Another Time, Another Place
by smittysgirl
Summary: In another world, the Rangers fight. (PRDT, AU)
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Dino Thunder, such as I'm using it, belongs to Buena Vista.

Author's note: This is an Alternate Universe story. Please do not flame me. Thanks.

Another Time And Place

by Smittysgirl

"Dr. Smitty! Dr. Smitty!"

The yell rang through Dino Ops. Terrance Smith spun in his chair, already steeled for some horrifying new creation of Mesogog's - or possibly an unfair grade inflicted on one of his charges by the same.

"Kira. Ethan? What's wrong?" he asked, reaching for the kleenex as the two rattled down the stairs. "Monster or what did Anton do this time?"

"It's worse," the Blue Ranger huffed.

"It's Conner," the Yellow Ranger supplied. "We found out he's gone off his meds."

"He started tearing up the cybercafe," Ethan continued. "Hayley knocked him out before he could morph or anything, but it's bad."

Terrance nodded, handing each of the beleaguered teens a tissue.

Kira settled down. "Dr. T, isn't there any way we can free the Dinogem from him?"

Terrance shook his head. "I wish that was the case. The only way to release the Dinogem from Conner is for him to die. I suppose clinical death would suffice, but it's not something I'd care to dabble in unless absolutely necessary."

A rustling came from the house above. "I assume that's Hayley?"

"I hope so," Terrence said grimly. "You stay here, kids. I'll be right back down."

Both Ethan and Kira got up. "We're not leaving you alone, Dr. T."

He shook his head, motioning for both to sit down. "I can handle Conner. The both of you need time to relax." He motioned to the rudimentary sensor equipment dotting the wall. "Call me if there's any developments?"

"Right, Dr. T," Ethan said, getting up and moving to the equipment. "Be careful, in case that's not Hayley."

Terrance nodded, bounding up the stairs and prepared for anything.

Anything except a bloodied White Ranger trying not to drip all over the carpet.

"Trent!" Terrance exclaimed. He frowned. "Let's get you downstairs and look at you. What happened?"

"Conner's what happened," the teen wheezed. He waved the older man away. "I know Kira's here, I saw Ethan's car outside. I'd just as soon not go downstairs."

"Still," Terrence persisted, "You're injured, and you need help."

Trent sighed. "I'll go into the kitchen. You bring up the medical kit from downstairs."

Terrance shook his head in exasperation. "When I gave you that key, I meant for you to use it."

"I am using it," Trent shot back.

"You never come downstairs," Terrance pointed out.

"With the others there? No way! Especially not Kira."

He let out a long suffering sigh. "Alright. Play your games. I'll be back in a moment."

"It's not a game, Dr. T!" Trent exclaimed, but he shuffled into the kitchen. Terrence had to shake his head as he headed back down.

"Who was it?" Ethan asked, clearly having not paid attention to the sensor grid. Kira crossed her arms, just as clearly with an inkling of who their visitor was.

Terrance said nothing, removing a med kit and modified fossilfinder from the wall. "You're not in any danger. I'll be back in a little while."

"Be careful," Kira said simply.

"I will," Terrance promised, heading back upstairs.

* * *

"You know," Terrance offered as his patient flinched at another stitch, "this would be much less awkward if you'd just talk to them. Maybe you can avoid them at school, but you can't avoid your father. At least they provide you some protection."

"By wearing a target on their backs? No thank you."

"Trent, they're your teammates," Terrance said simply. "You've got to trust them. They can take care of themselves."

"Like they take care of themselves against Conner?" Trent asked. "Why did you let that dangerous maniac near a Dinogem. And, by the way, they're not my teammates."

"Conner is a perfectly nice model soccer player when he's taken his medication. It's not his fault that he has a psychological disorder. Besides, Kira and Ethan and I are your teammates. You have to believe that, Trent."

Trent winced at the next suture being sealed. "You'll forgive me if having special circumstances for my membership is offensive to me. I'm sorry for what I did to you, Dr. Smitty. You have to believe that. But at least I was under the gem's control. Keeping me at arm's length while Conner's nestled up in everybody's bosom? I won't play that game."

"I admit, I had a hard time dealing with your redemption," Terrence admitted. "You did do a lot of damage, and we're finding it all a little hard to forgive. But I mean what I said. You are a member of this team, Trent Jacob Hernandez-Mercer."

Trent looked away. Terrance recognized the face of a man too strong to cry in front of another, and similarly averted his gaze. "And Conner... Conner needs our love. Without it he could be a danger to himself and others."

"Danger to everybody is right," Trent muttered. "He should be locked up and have his morpher taken away."

Terrance looked back up at the boy. "I don't want to hear that. You can't imagine what Conner underwent at Mesogog's hand."

Trent glared at him.

"Well, I suppose you WOULD know," he allowed. "But you didn't endure a near transformation into an anthropomorphic dinosaur."

"And now he's crazed. Dr. Smitty, he's one of the reasons I don't feel at home here. I just don't belong. And he and the others have made that very clear to me."

"Ethan likes you," Terrance insisted. "You know for a fact Hayley and I do. Why else do you think I asked you to come live with us?"

"You're safer if I don't," Trent muttered. "Besides, I'm careful. My Dad doesn't know where he is half the time, much less where I am."

Terrance laughed, wiping away the excess iodine and inspecting his handiwork. "Trent, I haven't been safe for a single day in the last five years. I think I know what I'm getting into. Hayley does too."

"Look, I've been hurt enough," Trent said. "The only reason I'm still here is to save my Dad. Or destroy him. Nothing's ever going to be any different."

"Things change, Trent," Terrance said quietly. "I nearly never worked with Anton - a guy named Tommy Oliver was supposed to be working with him, but he had to drop out after a major illness. So I ended up with Anton, and through him, I met Hayley. Neither of which would have happened had the now-Dr. Oliver ended up as your father's assistant."

Trent looked at him askance. "And this pertains to me - how?"

"I'm just saying, your life is in a constant state of freefall. You never know what's going to happen to change things until you open your eyes to the possibilities. Possibilities like living with Hayley and I. Like accepting your place on this team, and what that entails with Conner."

"Conner almost killed me." Trent's voice was flat. "Kira hates me. And I'm convinced that Hayley only keeps me as a busboy because I'm a Ranger."

"No, she keeps you because she's understaffed," Terrance said. "And because you're a damn fine employee."

"Anybody can bus tables if they gave it half an effort," Trent answered. "I quit on her."

"You had your reasons. We all have our reasons. That's what this is about, Trent. That's why we need -"

The thunderclap of Ethan and Kira emerging from the steps drew their attention.

"It's Conner!" Ethan called. "We have to get downtown now!"

Terrance swore. "Trent, will you come with us?"

"Are you kidding me?" Trent asked, getting up and calling his morpher into existance. "He owes me!"

"Trent, this is not about revenge," Terrance snapped. "Ready, everybody?"

The four morphed in an explosion of light and quickly set off for downtown.

* * *

Trent took in the thrashing red form and immediately drew his weapon. "You're in for it this time," he said quietly, not wanting a verbal lashing from Dr. Smitty or the others. He quickly drew his arrows and sent them in Conner's direction.

The Red Ranger growled savagely, ricocheting the weapons into the scattered populace with his Thundermax. Trent flinched.

"Kira, Ethan, evacuate the civilians!" the Black Ranger called over the din. From out of the smoke emerged two figures, male and female.

"Except them!" he amended.

"Um, Dr. T, you sure it's safe for Cass...." Ethan interrupted.

"I can take care of myself," the young woman called from behind Devin's red-clad form. "Besides, who else is going to film this battle for the evening news?"

"If you're sure, Cass," Ethan said, heading to clear out some civilians.

"She's fine," Devin replied, calling the Shield of Triumph out of its extradimensional space. "'Sides, do you want her angry with you, 'cause I sure don't...."

Ethan didn't answer, too busy was he at redirecting pedestrian traffic into an alleyway. Kira cut into a fire hydrant, using the spray of water to extinguish several small fires the ricocheted electrical arrows had caused.

Devin moved beside the Black Ranger, keeping the Shield between him and the whirling figure of the Red Ranger at all times. "Dr. Smitty, I know I'm still new to this whole Ranger thing and all, but how am I supposed to morph when I can't depower Kira and Ethan?"

"Hayley's been working on some modifications," Terrence said kindly. "Trust in your teammates, Devin."

"Yes, Sir Yoda... I mean, Dr. Smitty."

"Dr. T is fine, Devin."

The Red Ranger lunged at the two, and Devin responded in kind with an inarticulate cry. The Shield of Triumph slammed against the Red Ranger's chest, sending him reeling and briefly flashing with residual energy.

"Um... try now Dr. S - er, T?"

"Try it now," Terrance said, inwardly rolling his eyes.

"Triassic Thunder, Power Up!"

Devin's Ranger armor momentarily expanded from the Shield of Triumph, suddenly dissolving with an extended sour note.

"Um, Doctor um...."

"I see Hayley needs to do some tinkering. Why don't you and Cass keep the civilians out of the way and we'll knock Conner out."

"No problem, Dr. T." Devin returned the Shield to its pocket and headed off doggedly. "C'mon, Cass."

Terrance shook his head as he headed off to tackle Conner.

to be continued.


	2. part 2

Disclaimer: Not mine. Reminder: AU.  
  
Another Time, Another Place  
by Smittysgirl  
Part 2  
  
The scene unfolding on the laboratory's main viewer brought something like glee to the cold reptilian heart of Mesogog. The Red Dino Ranger tore a swath through his teammates, all reluctant to inflict injury on the youth. A reluctance which he did not share in kind.  
  
"Yessss." He hissed contently.  
  
"So, should I send down some... assistance for the Red Ranger?" Elsa asked idly.  
  
Mesogog shook his head. "I would prefer we not play our hand on this occasion. The more Dr. Smith and his Rangers associate the state young McKnight finds himself with our machinations, the less they will hold back."  
  
Elsa gave a brief nod. "As you wish, master." She studied the display. "At least he seems more... instinctive than he was."  
  
"Indeed." Mesogog purred. "Though our attempts all those months ago to enlist the Red Ranger as one of our fierce dino-men was thwarted by his fellow Rangers, his progresssssive mutation continuessss."  
  
The tyrant furrowed his brow in contemplation. "Have you taken to remodulating his medication when he is not looking? Such drasssstic results are ... unexpected."  
  
"Yes, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said. "I've made sure that his medication... is not as effective as it should be, thus causing more problems for the Rangers. And within the Rangers."  
  
"Excellent." He favored Elsa with a gentle caress with the back of his hand. "You have served me well in these recent days, my loyal general. Far better than your opposite number."  
  
Elsa smiled at her lord. "Thank you, Lord Mesogog. And speaking of him...."  
  
The door to the room slid open to reveal a dark figure in armor.  
.  
.  
.  
"Hayley!" Terrance cried into his morpher. "We've got a situation out here. You need to work on neutralizing Conner's energy signal, even for five seconds."  
  
Any response she might have made was interrupted by a horrible roar as Conner shifted to Superdino Mode and continued to whale on Ethan and Trent. Kira and Devin fell back beside Terrance, the young man still trying to keep the Shield of Triumph between himself and the action.  
  
"I so need to be able to morph!" Devin wailed.  
  
"Dr. T," Kira said, "We have a problem."  
  
"His name's Conner," Trent muttered, "And he's insane."  
  
Terrance blanched, unable to find within himself the sentiment to contradict Trent's words. "Ethan, Kira," he said as the two other Rangers fell in beside them, "get ready to demorph. We have to use Triassic."  
  
"Right," the two chorused, looking at each other.  
  
"Trent, keep Conner off our backs for a second," Terrence commanded.  
  
"Right, Dr. Smitty." Trent shifted into his own mode.  
  
Devin shot a glance at his teammates before readying the shield. "You guys just promise me that you'll get to safety when things get brutal."  
  
"We will," Kira promised. "Trent's getting pretty bruised holding off Conner."  
  
"It's all part of the job," Trent grunted, stabbing at Conner with one of his wrist-mounted swords.  
  
The Red Ranger roared with inarticulate rage, backslashing the other with his spikes fully extended.  
  
Devin flinched, and steeled himself. Kira and Ethan extended their arms, energy flowing from their morphers and into the center of the shield. "Triassic Thunder, Power Up!"  
  
The Triassic Ranger materialized in storm of energy, his suit briefly fluctuating from lack of input and the red across the togs fading to a dull gray. Devin inspected his arms critically as Kira and Ethan scampered to safety. "I just hope this is enough."  
  
"Devin! Go help Trent!" Terrance surged forward as Trent doubled over from a particularly viscous blow.  
  
Devin slammed into the Red Ranger, throwing him back into a streetlight, and switching him back to his normal morphed mode.  
  
"Conner, bro, I don't want to hurt you!" Devin yelled. The Red Ranger, clearly dazed, seemed to respond to his words.  
  
His morph lost focus, and shimmered out to reveal a dazed Conner McKnight.  
  
The Triassic Ranger ran up to him, his shield shimmering back to extradimensional space. "Are you okay?" He asked, extending a hand.  
  
"What happened?" Conner asked, looking around. "Did Mesogoon show up?"  
  
Devin shook his head. "Naw, man -- you must have gone off your meds or something. We need to get you back to Dino Ops before scaly-butt does show up."  
  
"Oh," Conner said, still disoriented. "Right." He shook his head.  
  
Trent shifted out of morph. "That's it, I'm out of here."  
  
"Trent!" Ethan called. "You don't-"  
  
The telltale sound of an invisiportal materializing jerked the team out of their collective brooding. The familiar sight of a fierce black-clad warrior stood between them and their assorted Raptor Cycles.  
  
"I do hope I'm not intruding, Dr. Smith." Zeltrax growled. "I simply didn't want your team's attention divided when I finally destroyed you!"  
  
"Oooh, how pretty," Conner murmured, entranced by the sight.  
  
Trent shifted back into morph. "What do you want, melt-head?"  
  
"Why, to destroy the illustrious Dr. Terrance Smith!" Zeltrax summoned his sword and axe simultaneously. "One final confrontation. My humilitation before Mesogog is nearly complete, Terrance. Grant me this."  
  
Terrance's fist clenched. "Everyone return to base. Hayley will know what to do for Conner. And that includes you too, Trent. I'll handle Zeltrax."  
  
"But Dr. T-" Kira began to protest.  
  
"Go!" Terrence commanded. "This is between me and Zeltrax."  
  
Kira gave a slow nod, and she, Devin, and Cass began to haul Trent in the direction of the cycles.  
  
"At last," the cyborg said, "at last I have you exactly where I want you. At last you will finally pay for what you did to me all those years ago."  
  
"What did I DO?!" Terrance nearly yelled. "You've gone on about this perceived wrong for the last eight months. You have to believe me, I don't remember you! Whatever I did, surely it's not worth this vendetta? It's not worth our lives?"  
  
"Yes!" Zeltrax called, before an Invisiportal shimmered into view.  
  
"You imbecile!" Elsa screamed. "You heard Mesogog. You've disobeyed a direct order! Return the base and prostrate yourself before him!"  
  
"But Elsa!" Zeltrax exclaimed, "I am about to destory Dr. Smith!"  
  
Elsa unsheathed her own sword. "This ends here, Zeltrax. If you lay one hand on the Black Ranger I will be forced to destroy you."  
  
Zeltrax huffed, but returned his sword to its sheath and seemed to bow to the other General. "As my lady wishes."  
  
"No." Terrance said firmly. The two spun around, clearly reminded of his presence in something other than a hypothetical.  
  
"I deserve an answer. Now. We don't have to fight, but I HAVE to know what this is about."  
  
"You do not remember?" Zeltrax demanded swiftly. "You do not remember that you got what you did not deserve?"  
  
"I've gotten plenty I don't deserve," Terrance replied.  
  
"You truly do not remember?" Zeltrax asked, dumbfounded.  
  
Terrance demorphed in a flash of light. "Zeltrax, if I knew who you were, I would have tried to make amends for what it was I did to cause you this pain. Believe me."  
  
"Then you do not remember your 'fortune' in joining Dr. Anton Mercer's expedition as his assistant?" Zeltrax asked.  
  
Terrance blanched. "I... I was replacing a man struck ill, I never did anything to acquire the job for myself..."  
  
His voice dropped to a whisper. "Tommy?"  
  
"No, Dr. Oliver is... I had hoped that his removal would bring me to Dr. Mercer's side."  
  
Terrance sank to his knees, his head swimming. "No. No, you can't be ... you died! I saw you die!"  
  
"I was fortunate that Lord Mesogog was keeping an eye on me."  
  
"Let's move, you idiot," Elsa hissed.  
  
The two vanished in a flash of light. Terrance began to bawl in confusion and rage.  
  
"EDDIE!!" he cried, his head thrown back.  
  
to be continued...  



	3. part 3

Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
Author's note: Still very AU, I'm afraid.  
  
Warning: Swearing ahead.  
  
Another Time And Place  
by Smittysgirl  
Part 3  
  
"Erk." Conner gurgled. The Red Ranger's head cleared momentarily, revealing the concerned faces of his colleagues as well as that turncoat turnaboutTrent. He tensed, and before he could struggle free of his restraints he felt Hayley stick him in the shoulder.  
  
"I'm sorry, Conner," she said at great distance. "We can't take the chance."  
  
"Wha?" Conner asked. "Wha's he doing here?"  
  
"Leaving," Trent said tersely. "Goodbye."  
  
"You're not going anywhere," Hayley barked. Trent grimaced, returning to his seat. Hayley patted Conner on the head affectionately, her face already the picture of sirenity. "Trent helped us contain you after your latest episode. Dr. Smith wanted him to come here."  
  
Conner's eyes widened. "Dr. Smitty! Where is he?"  
  
"He was going to take on Zeltrax," Kira shrugged. "He told us to look out for you."  
  
"But...."  
  
"He'll be fine, Conner, but you need to rest, and take your meds."  
  
"I took my meds! At school!"  
  
"What?" Hayley asked, confused. "But when you acted up at the cybercafe, I checked your pill case. You were still fully loaded for the day."  
  
Devin nodded, pulling the plastic tray out of Conner's knapsack and showing it to the restrained teen. "She's right, dude. I was there."  
  
"But I was there! Principal Randall and the nurse saw me take them!"  
  
Hayley shook her head in confusion. "There must have been some mixup with a couple of students' medication. I just hope nobody else has, uh, such a severe reaction to missing a dose."  
  
The indicator light above the sensor bank flashed, and the north wall of the chamber rose revealing a discheveled Terrance Smith.  
  
"Dr. T!" the teens cried jubilantly, racing up to their mentor.  
  
"Did you cream Zeltrax?" Ethan asked hopefully.  
  
Terrance forced a smile at his ward's question, briefly looking back at Hayley with darkened, deadened eyes.  
  
"Dr T, are you all right?" Kira asked.  
  
"And can I go home now?" Treant added.  
  
"No," Terrance said simply. Who of the three he was addressing was not apparent.  
  
"Okay everybody," Hayley clapped hastily, "why don't you all stay here and sort out your problems. Dr. Smith and I have some things we need to discuss upstairs. We'll make snacks or something. It'll be a Power Powwow."  
  
Trent and Conner blanched as she strode across the base and activated the security measures, locking down all egress from Dino Ops save the central staircase. "Devin, we'll call you in a little while to help us serve, okay?"  
  
"Okay, thanks Hayley!" Devin said cheerfully.  
  
Trent groaned. "Do you really want to leave me alone with Conner?"  
  
Hayley grinned. "I'll trust Devin, Cass, Kira, and Ethan to keep the two of you from killing each other."  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
She ushered her boyfriend and colleague upstairs, depositing him on the couch. "Terrance, what happened back there with Zeltrax?"  
  
His eyes struggled to focus on her. "oh God, Hail ... I never imagined it could have been him. I finally know why Zeltrax wants to destroy me. What I did to him."  
  
"Terrence, what happened?" Kayley asked urgently.  
  
"Did I ever tell you...."  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
FIVE YEARS AGO...  
  
Dr. Edward Payne wiped the sweat from his brow and took a moment to inspect the monolith towering above the archeological dig.  
  
The younger doctor, freshly graduated, stepped beside him and smiled. "You just can't resist basking in your own reflected glory, can you?"  
The older man looked at him with an unexpected strength to his gaze. "I think I've earned it, Terrance. This represents my life's work. The inverse neutronic stabilizer will allow us the ability to date fossils with a thousand times the precision of ordinary carbon dating."  
  
"If it works. Successfully."  
  
"It will," Payne insisted. "Even without Anton Mercer Industries as a financier I am confident this prototype will operate at its optimal efficiency. All work in the lab has passed with flying colors."  
  
"Everything changes in field testing, Eddie." Terrance said softly. "You know that. I just don't want you getting your hopes up. I mean that as your friend, not just your boss."  
  
Payne huffed. "I'm sure it will work," the older man said, sounding irritated. "Now, if you'll excuse me?"  
  
He turned away and walked off, oblivious to Terrance Smith's head-shaking and worried look. "I hope you're right, friend," Terrance said softly.  
  
Payne made his way up the platform to the machine's control panel and began running down the litany of prestart procedures. The Silver Guardian escorts sent by AMI to guard the test site seemed on-edge. Terrance idly wondered if anyone had bothered to tell them what they were guarding.  
  
Terrance sat down on the folding chair and crossed his fingers. He did want Edward Payne to succeed; the two men had spent too much time together in local bars for him not to. As the monolith shuddered, he shot up from the chair.  
  
Small explosions began to erupt across the machine's superstructure, one sending the other man flying over he scaffolding to the ground below. From Payne's grunt, Terrance could access his friend was harmed, but not life-threateningly.  
  
As he raced across the field, a protracted screech split the air, and tendrils of green energy deposited a strange gray creature and what looked like heavily modified Tyrannodrones between them.  
  
"Who in the hell are you?" Terrence yelled, screeching to a halt while he tried to find a way to get to his friend.  
  
"You may call me MESOGOG," it hissed. "You needn't worry about your friend's experiment, Dr. Smith. The inverse neutronic stabilizer works perfectly - provided it has all its components installed!"  
  
From inside his tunic Mesogog produced a sophisticated routing mechanism. "Such a shame how fickle these creations of man can be, eh?"  
  
"You... you bastard!" Terrance yelled. "I won't let you have the device... or Eddie!"  
  
Mesogog cackled. "You fail to understand me, doctor. I have no use for either the machine or its creator. What I cannot allow, however, is for you to have access to those designs. Bring him!"  
  
With that two of the Tyrannodrones lifted the prostrate man, binding him under the arms and dragging him to Mesogog. The creature inspected the older man for a moment, disgust evident on his face.  
  
"So PATHETIC is man," he hissed, "and so FRAGILE!"  
  
With that he grabbed Payne by the neck and twisted.  
  
"EDDIE!" Terrance screamed as a sickening crack was heard.  
  
The creature - Mesogog - simply laughed as it, the Tyrannodrones, the device, and the body of Dr. Edward Payne disappeared.  
  
He turned to face the startled Silver Guardians, rage darkening his handsome features. "Where the hell were you people? A good man is dead because of you!"  
  
The slackjawed expression on the sub-commander's face and the screaming evident from his headset alerted Terrance to the fact that over half the guards were no longer present. He turned towards the nearby quarry, his eyes widening as he saw the Tyrannosaurus Biozord rampaging throughout the firing site for the device.  
  
"Our experiments," Terrance whispered. "He got to it all..."  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
"I wouldn't know, of course, that Mesogog and Anton Mercer were the same person until Trent joined the team," Terrance said softly.  
  
Oh Terrance," Hayley said, pulling him into a tight embrace. "You couldn't have known. I wouldn't expect you to. I can't believe Edward would blame you either."  
  
"But he does," Terrance said heavily. "And... he wouldn't believe what happened to him even if I told him."  
  
"We'll get through to him." Hayley insisted. "Just like we're doing with Trent. No institution built on fear can sustain itself indefinitely."  
  
Terrance sighed. "We're not doing a great job with Trent, either."  
  
"I'd disagree." Cassidy said softly from the stairwell. "I'm sorry to intrude, but the others were getting restless for their snacks. Dr. Smitty, you have to realize how much good you've already done for Trent. He may not trust us, but he trusts the two of you."  
  
Hayley shooed Terrance back down to Dino Ops. "Just be there for them. It's all you can do right now. And send Devin up to help us if you'd be so kind."  
  
Terrance favored his girlfriend with a smile. "Right." He sighed once more and went down with Cassidy to survey any mess that had been made while he was unburdening himself.  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
Trent winced as Terrance continued his ministrations on the boy's injured shoulder. "Seriously, Dr. T- I can handle this myself. I stole some medical supplies from my da- Mesogog's lab."  
  
"So I'm just good for stitching you back together, not upkeep and maintenance?" the doctor asked with a ghost of a smile.  
  
"Dr. T...." Trent shook his head. "Look, I'm here because Hayley said so. I appreciate what you're doing, but it'll heal. And I'm safer and you're safer if I'm not here."  
  
"You mean, because of Conner?" Terrance asked mildly. "Trent, he's normally all right. It's just... he needs help, after what Mesogog did to him early on. The reptilian part of his brain is taking over. And as for Mesogog... I'm not going to be in any more danger now than I was before."  
  
"I'm a liability." Trent said firmly. "I was to my biological parents, I was to myself, and I will be to you. Everything I touch I destroy, because everything I touch is tainted by Mesogog."  
  
"Trent, you don't really believe that...." Terrance faltered, because he did, indeed, see the belief in the young man's face and posture. "But you do."  
  
Trent laughed humourlessly. "I do."  
  
Terrance sighed. "I don't know if this means anything through all that hurt, but I respect you. I also respect how you've managed to pull yourself up through all this. You'll be a fine man one day, Trent. The best."  
  
"If I survive. If I keep my Dad from destroying the world. Keep everyone else from suffering Conner's affliction."  
  
"You can't put that on yourself. Not alone. It's not your responsibility."  
  
"It's my father. It's what I did. And because I...."  
  
"I hope the next sentence was not going to end 'I hate myself'."  
  
Trent looked up sheepishly like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Maybe it was."  
  
"Trent."  
  
"I mean it, Mr. T!" Trent exclaimed, wincing in pain. "This is all my fault! Mesogog twisted my Dad's paternal instincts and is trying to make a new world for me!"  
  
"You can't believe that," Terrance said, taking a seat next to him. "Mesogog still has familial instincts towards you because your father's love is too strong. He'd be doing this whether he cared about you or not, he just gets to conch it in an altruistic motive this way."  
  
He nodded across the base to Conner, being spoon-fed applesauce by Kira. "Conner hates you, and he's still driven to attack humans by his reptile brain. Is he your fault as well?"  
  
"My father did this to him. And I should have known. Instead, I was blithely living my life, working for Hayley, ignoring what was going wrong with my Dad...."  
  
Terrance fought the urge to grab him by the shoulders, instead awkwardly folding his hands over his lap. "Trent, we can always blame ourselves in retrospect for the things we should have seen, or decisions we should have made. You can't live your life wondering what might have gone differently. All we have is the here and now. We need you with us here and now. More importantly, you need us."  
  
"I do?" Trent asked. "Conner hates me, Kira hates me... it really was safer when I was trying to leave town and save you all."  
  
Kira doesn't hate you," Terrance insisted. "She's had her heart jerked around for the last eight months, and you're a part of that. Conner I'll concede, though he does have exaserbating circumstances and a rage problem. But what about Hayley, Ethan, Devin, Cassidy and myself?"  
  
"You're safer without me. My Dad's insane."  
  
"We're safer with you here. Trent, you can save your father and the world better if you'd just be here. Be part of our team. Let our strength enhance ours, and let yours enhance us."  
  
Trent slumped forward, suddenly wincing as he tore a stitch. Terrance sighed, easing him back and tending to the boy's injured shoulder again.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
"There now," Kira whispered as she dabbed a smattering of applesauce from the corner of Conner's mouth," don't you feel better?"  
  
"I'd feel better if I was allowed solid foods," Conner groused. "I'm not an invalid."  
  
"Well, we'd kinda like your meds to take effect," Devin said nearby, organizing his camera case. "You know, before we let you go."  
  
"And why is Trent still here?" Conner asked. "Dr. T should know better than to trust Mesogog's son. For all we know, White Boy is turning into a lizard himself."  
  
Kira looked away sharply at that. Devin continued to fiddle with a telephoto lens.  
  
"Nobody can answer me that, can they?" Conner demanded. "He's probably getting intel for Mesogog even now!"  
  
"Looks like he's getting his shoulder stitched to me," Cass answered.  
  
Conner glowered at her. "We need to deal with him now, while he's vulnerable."  
  
Kira turned back, her eyes large and damp. "Conner, have you any idea what we go through with your - problems? The fear for what this must be doing to you? The worry that this is going to be the time we lose you for good? And you would DARE to put that on someone else, even after what Trent did to us? Guilt isn't for victims, it's for survivors!"  
  
"So what?" Conner growled. "The bastard is Mesogog's son!"  
  
"He's Anton Mercer's son," Cass said defensively. "There's a difference. Just like there's a difference between the Conner McKnight I consider my friend and the person I'm speaking to right now."  
  
"I'm still the same Conner, no matter what Mesofreak did to me!" Conner told her desperately. "And I think nothing would be better than to deliver Trent back to his daddy in pieces."  
  
Kira started to cry, tearing up the stairs two at a time. The slamming of the front door a moment later attested to her current whereabouts. Cass favored Conner with a sour look.  
  
"What?" Conner asked, mystified.  
  
"You aren't the Conner McKnight we once knew," Cassidy said softly.  
  
To Be Continued....  



	4. part 4

Disclaimer in part one.  
  
Note: Insane Beta Reader needed for insane writer. Inquire within.  
  
Another Time and Place  
by Smittysgirl  
part 4  
  
Conner McKnight liked to think his mind was once his most stalwart companion. He wasn't a 'brain' by any means, and his middling grades were often the result of coasting on the barest amount of information possible, but his mind was hardwired for intuitive strategic thinking. He knew the mechanics of soccer the way Ethan knew the inner workings of computers.  
  
As the effects of the antipsychotics set in he reflected that his mind was now an unreliable narrator, eager to color events to suit the convenience of his paranoia. He hated it. The cold, detached logic with which he could dismiss the lives of others. That sense of perverse other which breathed down his neck whenever he let his concentration slip.  
  
A shiver ran through him. The others were still about, with the exception of Kira, who had been pissed at what he'd said. Whatever he'd said. Devin, their newest Ranger, was playing with his lenses, Cassidy was fiddling with her palm pilot, Ethan was doing something for Dr. T, and Dr. T was trying to stitch up Trent's shoulder. Again.  
  
It was so easy for him to hate Trent. Hate him for what he'd done to all of them, hate him for betraying their trusts as the White Ranger, hate him for not stopping his father when he had a clear opportunity. It was so easy to hate him, Conner knew, that the rage wasn't entirely born of himself.  
  
He was changing. Cassidy was right. He was losing himself to whatever Mesogog had done to him, leaving him lost. He wondered if it was because Trent was who he was that he hated the other Ranger, or if somehow, he was under Mesogog's control.  
  
Fresh rage surged through him, rage he knew was directed to the mutant. Mesogog had violated him in a way Conner could have never imagined. It had been only moments after their arrival at school the morning after discovering their Dino Gems. Dr. Mercer had taken him aside before class while Kira and Ethan spoke to Dr. T on the playground.  
  
Conner almost chided his ignorance in retrospect, though he never could have suspected his science teacher was the man- the creature that had dedicated itself to the retrieval of the Dino Gems.  
  
He remembered only collapsing, and then waking up in the chair in Mesogog's lab. Had Mesogog changed him at that point? Or was he still Conner McKnight then, and the true torture had come later?  
  
For a vague second, he wondered if Trent would have suffered the same fate if he hadn't been Anton Mercer's son. For all he knew, Trent could have been going through the same programming.  
  
Conner sighed heavily, getting Devin's attention. He nodded in the direction of a juice box Hayley and Cassidy had procured earlier. "You mind?"  
  
The Triassic Ranger shook his head, scooting over and extending the straw to Conner's mouth. He drank, smiling gratefully afterwards. "Appreciated."  
  
The next words caught in his throat, and he forced them out. "Dev, I'm - sorry for the trouble I've been causing you guys."  
  
Devin shook his head. "Thanks. But not the guy you need to be apologizing to, man."  
  
"You mean...." Conner nodded over towards where Dr. T spoke softly to Trent. The other looked likely to bolt at any moment, shirt or no.  
  
Devin nodded. "For starters. You don't have to like him. You don't even have to trust him. I'm not sure I trust him, really. We're a team. We have to work together or we're never going to stop Mesogog."  
  
"It hurts," Conner said. "That he could have stopped it so easily...."  
  
Devin nodded. "I know. That's part of why I can't trust him, really. But I also know shooting a man in the back isn't honor, and right now personal honor is all that's keeping Trent from taking his life."  
  
Conner raised his eyebrows. "Trent? Honor?"  
  
"Have you TALKED to him since he left Mesogog? Not fought, I know you both love to do that. Have you had a conversation with him? Have you seen the stuff he's drawing?"  
  
Conner shook his head. "He still draws?"  
  
"He does," Devin sighed. "It's all D&D stuff. Paladins, knights on horseback. Real medival vibe. The stuff they're fighting is just ..."  
  
Devin struggled for words. "Bleak. Shapeless. I've had some experience with depression myself, Conner. I know what that's like."  
  
"I feel so sorry for him." Somewhere in him, he should feel pity, but something was preventing him from do so.  
  
"You should, man. Depression's serious business. Dr. T had to do some serious counseling, or Trent wouldn't be here now."  
  
Conner sighed heavily, leaning back on the cot. "When'd you get wise, anyway?'  
  
Devin smiled. "Always was. Never had a venue for it."  
  
"Yeah, I guess that would happen, as Cass' right-hand man... erm."  
  
"Hey, Cass has her own attractions. And it's cool that she and Ethan are dating. He's good for her." There was a wistfulness in Devin's voice that Conner couldn't quite understand. "Besides, dad doesn't like her. Too... blonde."  
  
"Hey, she's a nice ... Aryan girl." Conner finished lamely.  
  
Devin looked at him askance. "My parents are Asian, or did you forget?"  
  
"I keep forgetting you're adopted."  
  
Devin considered that for a moment as he started unfastening the restraints along the cot. "Most of the time I forget it too. Dad, however, has never remembered. He wants me to marry a nice botanist or middle manager somewhere."  
  
"Not Cass?"  
  
"Definitely not Cass. He wants me to have a quiet life, have 2.5 kids, keep the family line going...."  
  
Conner clasped his friend on the arm once he was released. "I'm sorry, dude. Are you managing?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm just glad Mom'n'dad don't know what I'm really doing...."  
  
"Maybe they'd let up a little if they knew the truth? Not, you know, that I could tell mine or anything."  
  
"The first thing mom and dad would do, especially dad, is ground me until I was 18. And what would you guys do for the Triassic Ranger then?"  
  
"Me?" Conner asked mischievously.  
  
"No chance, Dude, power doesn't work that way," Devin said.  
  
Conner gave him a small smile. "Too bad," he said.  
  
To Be Continued.  



	5. part 5

Disclaimers: In part one.  
  
Author's note: Thanks to Nalanzu for betareading this part. Any mistakes are mine, not hers.  
Another Time and Place  
by Smittysgirl  
part 5  
  
Cassidy rapped lightly on the hatch leading up from Dino Ops, jerking Kira out of her revere. "Hey. I heard you come in. Would you like to talk?"  
  
Kira sniffled again. "I can't believe those two. Or at least Conner."  
  
Cass sat down in the chair opposite her, and took the smaller girl's hands. "You have to remember that isn't the Conner we know. That's ... the thing Mesogog put in Conner's head talking. Conner especially needs to remember that."  
  
"We're lucky, day to day, if Conner remembers who he is," Kira said sharply. "And Trent... don't get me started with Trent."  
  
Cassidy let out a deep breath, staring at her feet for a moment. "I don't know how you do it, truthfully. Devin and I have been a part of this for such a short time, and it's already been the most taxing thing in my life."  
  
"It isn't much easier at this point, either. I mean, I accepted being a Ranger. It's not like I really had a choice in the matter, anyway. But you just live. Somehow."  
  
Cass bit her lip, again avoiding Kira's gaze. The smaller girl wondered what had gotten into her.  
  
"I haven't been much of a friend to you, have I?" she finally asked.  
  
"You've been a great friend... at least the last month or so. And Devin... it's nice that he can wear the armor."  
  
"I'm just so sorry," she mumbled. "Sorry I didn't see it sooner, sorry I couldn't take the burden off of you. Sorry ... sorry if I took Ethan from you. I know he's the only real friend you've had lately."  
  
"I wish I'd seen him first," Kira joked weakly.  
  
Cass laughed gently. "It seems to me you had seven months."  
  
"Yeah, well, you never notice your teammates," Kira said ruefully. "I don't think I'd have even noticed Trent if he'd gotten his powers the same time the rest of us had."  
  
"Do you ever worry about how it's going to end between Trent and Conner?" she asked abruptly. "They've both made you such a part of this."  
  
"Hopefully without either one dismembering the other," Kira said.  
  
Cass sighed, slumping forward. Kira could feel the other girl's hands drenching hers, and sensed this was awkward territory for her.  
  
"How does it make you feel to have been thrown in all this?"  
  
"Like an object," Kira admitted. "Like for all I feel for them both, neither really thinks about me as a person. I'm another status symbol between them. Like nobody loves Kira for who Kira is."  
  
"I think they do," Cass said, "It's just that... well, they're guys, and both of them have mental disorders, that's all."  
  
Kira laughed without a trace of humor. "I sure know how to pick a horse, don't I?"  
She gestured to her guitar case, strewn on one of Dr. Smitty's other chairs. "You know I spent most of the time wandering around the ranch trying to come up with a song about all this? Figured I might as well get some material out of my misery. Kept going back to my favorite song as a girl."  
  
"Oooh?" Cassidy said, her eyes lighting up.  
  
Kira picked up the guitar. "Now I see I'm up to no good, and I wanna start again, can't remember when I felt good baby, no I can't remember when...."  
  
Cassidy clapped softly as the song ended. "That was beautiful," she said. Kira could tell that wasn't false praise, and the song had really touched the other girl.  
  
Kira looked away, slightly embarassed. "Thanks. My mom used to be part of Debbie Gibson's road crew, so I heard that song a lot."  
  
"Your mom was...."  
  
"Yep. That's how I learned to play the guitar. I wanted to be part of the world my mom's boss was a part of."  
  
Cass smiled weakly, clearly uncomfortable with comforting another person. Kira had to admire her effort.  
  
"Shame the song doesn't give you any guideposts, huh?" she finally volunteered.  
  
Kira gave her a wry grin. "Yeah."  
  
Cassidy looked at the lamp on the table. "Devin and I are going soon... want me to give you a ride?"  
  
Kira nodded. "I'd really appreciate that. Do you have to be home soon, or would you like to stay with me for a while? My parents always make too much food."  
  
"Food sounds good. Devin eats enough for the both of us, though."  
  
Kira laughed. "My parents use buffet style dining - old quirk of my dad's. We have a big house. They might love him."  
  
Cassidy grinned. "That's great! Let's get out of here."  
.  
.  
.  
"Zeltrax," Mesogog rumbled, "Let uss talk about your... suicidal streak as of late."  
  
"My master," the cyborg bowed. "There is no excuse for my behavior. My desire to destroy Dr. Smith has clouded me to your wisdom. I seek nothing less than repentance."  
  
Mesogog drummed the arm of his throne. "I would hope ssooo. While destroying Dr. Smith and his children would be... most enjoyable, I would seek to destroy them from within."  
  
Zeltrax did not avert his gaze from the mutant's feet. "As is the most prudent course of action, sire. I leave myself at your mercy to do with as you wish."  
  
Mesogog hissed, and bared one claw, striking out at Zeltrax. "You are... fortunate that I need a skilled warrior with some sense of tactics."  
  
The cyborg did not flinch, taking the blow. "I am fortunate, master. I will not disobey you again, on my life."  
  
"You had better not!"  
  
Zeltrax was dismissed, clattering into the hallway before Mesogog could inflict further damage to his person. Elsa, leaning against a support beam, looked at him oddly.  
  
"What's your game, Payne? Why the masochistic streak with Lord Mesogog?"  
  
"I only seek to please our lord," Zeltrax intoned. "After all, it is he who saved me from death."  
  
Elsa rolled her eyes. "You're like a puppy, you know that? It's pathetic. And just like a puppy, you keep making accidents all over the place that we're left to clean up."  
  
"I did not mean to inconvenience you, my lady."  
  
Elsa sashayed over to him, waggling her finger underneath his chin. "If you intend to kill yourself with this vendetta, just get it over with for all our sakes. If you intend to be Mesogog's lapdog, start shaping up. It's that simple."  
  
"You would do the same for any man who had wronged you."  
  
Elsa crossed her arms. "And what do you know of those who have wronged me, Zeltrax? Do you know their names at all? Do I define myself by those things?"  
  
"I presume you have destroyed all in your path, my lady." Zeltrax bowed. "Now, if you do not mind, I must recharge. I am sure Lord Mesogog will seek my redemption soon."  
  
Elsa grunted acknowledgment, returning to her perch.  
.  
;  
.  
"Something's bothering me about Conner's meds," Hayley said to Terrance after all the kids had gone.  
  
"What do you mean?" Terrance asked, looking up from one of his notebooks. He felt exhausted, like all of the emotion had been bled out of him by the day's unending stream of crises. "He skipped a dose, probably by accident."  
  
"This isn't the first time, Terrance. The only reason he hasn't had more of these... incidents is that I double-check at the cafe. As it is, I wasn't there at the start, when he was throwing Trent around and trying to strangle him. I was lucky to get in when we did, because Trent wasn't struggling that much."  
  
Terrance rubbed his temples, trying to process the new information. He understood why Hayley would keep this from him, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Gah, something else to consider - Mercer messing up the dosage."  
  
"That's what I was thinking," Hayley said neutrally.  
  
Terrance took off his glasses and slid beside his girlfriend. "You're omitting something. What's the matter?"  
  
"Mercer wasn't there when Conner took his medication."  
  
"Ugh," Terrance said sourly. "No time for him to have made a change prior? No, likely not... he'd have to replace it after."  
  
"He has first-period science with Anton Mercer, and then he doesn't see him for the rest of the day."  
  
"Do you have any ideas?" Terrance asked.  
  
"Not a one," Hayley said. "Either Conner's imagining taking the meds, or something weird is going on. I know he's told me once the principal meets him on the way there, because she checks on the nurse at that time of day."  
  
"You have a better relationship with the principal than I do," he allowed, remembering the skirmish the Black Ranger and principal had gotten into over the Dimetrozord Egg after a field trip of Mercer's uncovered it.  
  
"Not really," Hayley said. "I think she's an arrogant bitch on a power trip."  
  
"Yes, but you're a more naturally forgiving person," he said, slipping an arm around her waist and grinning roguishly.  
  
"Only to handsome palentologists and clumsy patrons," Hayley pointed out.  
  
"Then I suppose it's a good thing Anton's an evil mutant."  
  
Hayley grinned. "Yeah, it is." She rubbed an imaginary speck of dirt off his cheek. "Poor Trent."  
  
"He said he'd consider moving here, at least. I consider that a rousing victory after the last couple weeks."  
  
"That is good... for Trent," Hayley said. "You sure you can handle a ravenous teenage boy in all this?"  
  
"I think I don't have a choice," Terrance smiled. "Trent needs a family, and this house was starting to feel too big again, wasn't it?"  
  
Hayley smiled and leaned against him. "I was thinking more along the lines of how much Trent packs away in food at work."  
  
"We could always dip into the raptor feed," he ventured. "I mean, we'd need to kill and grill the meat first."  
  
Hayley snorted. "At least he's not getting chubby, thanks to the exercise. Of course, from all the Rangers I've seen in the archive footage, none of them are chubby, either."  
  
Terrance nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "There's so much we don't understand about these powers, besides what Anton's company managed to salvage from those wrecked Zords. I wish we knew a way to contact the other teams, or request assistance or something."  
  
"It would make our lives easier, having someone with experience," Hayley agreed. "But Ranger teams aren't usually listed in the phone book."  
  
"Well, besides the one, but I don't have deep enough pockets to call Bio Lab myself."  
  
Hayley nodded bleakly. "So much for help on that end."  
  
She leaned into his embrace, her face resting in the crook of his neck. "We'll work something out, Hale. I mean it. We'll find a way to stop Mesogog."  
  
"I know we will," Hayley said drowsily.  
  
To Be Continued... 


	6. part 6

Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
Author's note: Thank you to Nalanzu for once again checking this over, and again, any mistakes are mine, not hers.  
  
Another Time and Place  
By Smittysgirl  
Part 6

* * *

Trent walked cautiously down the city street to where he was making his home. As he'd tried to tell Dr. T, it wasn't safe for him there. It wasn't safe for anyone to be with him.  
  
Which, of course, meant that his home was an abandoned warehouse out on the reaches of the city.  
  
Trent pried open the rusted truck port, sliding under the door and making his way to the administrative offices. His cot and hot plate weren't quite on par with the Mercer Estate's amenities, but they kept him alive long enough to fight against Mesogog.  
  
Trent didn't like to think about what stopping Mesogog would entail for either himself or his father.  
  
He didn't like to think about a lot of things, nowadays, least of all the monster his father had become. It was bad enough that he, himself, had become a monster, ever since his father had forcibly introduced him to the White Gem.  
  
Tossing off his shirt, Trent washed a day's worth of soot and sweat from his face, wincing at the ice cold water. Despite the temperature during the day, it could get bitterly cold in northern California at night.  
  
Trent idly wondered if he might be able to rig up a functional water heater. It wouldn't provide him with a shower, but it would be better than this.  
  
Anything, sometimes, would be better than this.  
  
But he had to fight. Dr. Smitty was right, on that one thing. Now if the man only understood what a danger Trent was to everyone, so much the better.  
  
To save him, to save the others, Trent could only hide, and hope nobody looked too closely at him.  
  
The rusty screech of the garage door sent Trent's danger sense into overdrive. He threw his shirt back on, and cautiously remolecularized his morpher before slipping out of the office and into the heavy shadows of the warehouse.  
  
"Trent?" came a harrowed voice.  
  
Trent moved cautiously towards the voice, not daring to speak for fear that the visitor was Mesogog. Or somebody else. He wasn't always sure of the difference, nowadays.  
  
"Trent? Son, it's me. I swear, it's me."  
  
The young man flinched, knowing only too well the beast underneath his father's skin. His fingers caressed the tab on his Dragomorpher.  
  
"This is where Mesogog has figured you're hiding. He's been running constant sensor sweeps. He's even begun to rig the sewer system with trip lasers. I had to warn you before he took control again ..."  
  
"He really wants me bad," Trent said softly.  
  
Trent could see his father wince in the pale moonlight. "More than you can imagine," he murmured. "I wish ... I wish I could tear it all out of me, son. My love for you, it's all knotted up in him. But you have to stay strong. Mesogog isn't me. You can't treat him any differently because we share this body."  
  
"Even though he still thinks he loves me... in his own way."  
  
"If you hadn't become a Ranger, son, I think your next stop would have been stasis."  
  
He tried in vain not to think of what that might entail. "Dad, we'll find a way. Dr. T knows, he's working on an antidote."  
  
The older man shook his head. "No, no matter how much you run, eventually you'll have to face me. Face him."  
  
He looked up, his eyes set and determined. Trent knew that look from countless board meetings he'd sat in on. A look the reptilian side of Anton Mercer had gladly taken as its own when it began manifesting control over his human body. "It could all be over, son. One blow in this form would finish me."  
  
"Dad...." Trent breathed. "You know I can't murder my own father!"  
  
Mercer held up his left hand, already pulsating with a strange energy. "I can't hold him back forever. If my death is the cost of destroying Mesogog, I'll take it. I'm asking you this as your father. SAVE me."  
  
"Dad!"  
  
"Trent. Focus!"  
  
Trent ran.  
  
His feet barely hit the ground as he made his way out of the warehouse and down labyrinthian alleyways. The world began to blur together as he bobbed and weaved, trying to stay one step ahead of the screams.  
  
Oh God, the screams...  
  
He'd had them every night, heard them every night, ever since his father had saved him. He wished that they would go away... and again, it was rapidly becoming apparent that once the whole battle was done, he should seek to be away from this life.  
  
An explosion of light erupted in front of him, revealing Mesogog's chief general and the man Trent had nearly supplanted for a time. The backlash sent Trent careening backwards, overturning a trashcan.  
  
"You should know better then to disobey your father, whelp." Zeltrax snarled.  
  
"Zeltrax," Trent snarled back. He triggered his morpher, knowing better than to try to fight his father's general in civilian form.  
  
The White Ranger shot forward, his Dragosword slamming into Zeltrax's wrist with all of his strength. The cyborg cried out, dropping his axe and pivoting to avoid the rest of the blow.  
  
Trent took advantage, swinging the sword up, aiming to put Zeltrax off balance... at least enough to get out of there.  
  
The tip of his blade slid between the armor plates separating Zeltrax's torso from his helmet. The cyborg made an odd gurgling sound, and electrical current shot out from the sword's point of entry.  
  
Trent jerked backwards, dislodging the sword and shooting a spray of something black and horrible smelling all over.  
  
The general looked at him goggle-eyed for a moment, stumbling forward and collapsing in a heap.  
  
Trent stumbled back, and ran.

* * *

Ethan was one of those people who liked computers more than he liked people.  
  
It wasn't that he hated people, and it wasn't that he was antisocial. Ethan liked the immediacy of computers. The meticulous way a piece of good hardware and reliable software melded together to produce something greater than the sum of their parts.  
  
He liked the way a computer elevated him, and those like-minded individuals, to a higher plateau than they might reach without them. Even conversations online were more dense, more thoughtful than those he might have in the real world.  
  
That, perhaps, was what attracted him to Cassidy. Her net persona was so thoughtful and detached, so unconcerned by the trappings of high school which seemed to consume every making moment of her real life.  
  
It was what had led him to be with her. What had brought both her and Devin into their circle.Looking up from his work table, Ethan saw it was nearly midnight. Though he'd have been happy to keep working until the wee early hours of the morn and simply conk out in the middle of PE, he suspected Principal Randall wouldn't give him a pass just because he was fulfilling most of his educational requirements off school grounds.  
  
With a sigh he stopped his experiments, scooting his chair across the floor and preparing to log his main computer offline.  
  
His efforts were stopped by his computer beeping, the result of a continual monitoring of USENET. Clearly, somebody had mentioned his team. An additional beep showed that he had a new email message.  
  
Checking the 'bot first, Ethan relaxed. Most of his monitoring took place in soc.power-rangers, the internet's premiere Power Rangers community and the only place he knew of gather intelligence - such as any existed online. This post, however, was simply an allusion in soc.vampires.sightings to how obvious a vampire would have to be before people began taking notice.  
  
Satisfied that the 'bot had found nothing important, he turned to the email. This was one of his other monitoring activities - email lists devoted to him and his fellow superheroes.  
  
He was pleasantly surprised to see the letter was actually from a friendly associate of his, though one as was so often the case lately, from the ranger monitoring attempts. Samurai Cam was one of the more vocal participants in the ranger USENET group, often making long and complicated theories drawing on what was publicly known about the various teams. It was Samurai Cam who most strongly insisted the Space Rangers had not been the original team of Rangers, drawing on tenuous information that even Ethan found suspect.  
  
Of course, since he'd become a superhero, things were easier to believe than ever. After all, of course, who was dating Cassidy Cornell, reporter? Who was friends - more or less - with Conner McKnight?  
  
Cuing up the email, Ethan was pleasantly surprised. Cam had foregone business for a change, and was advising him on possible ways to deal with his blooming relationship.  
  
Ethan shook his head. He'd been feeling pretty desperate when he'd written that letter, he'd have never told someone like Cam about his relationship with Cassidy unless he was really at his wit's end.  
  
He had the feeling, after reading the email, that Cam had done this before. At least the guy wasn't snarky, like he sometimes tended to get with other posters.  
  
Ethan sent a correspondence back to Cam, thanking him for the advice. At least he didn't feel that stupid asking a complete stranger. Dr. T was pretty clueless in the romance department, Trent was... not a happy camper, Conner was insane, and Devin... he felt like he was taking Devin's girl away, so he couldn't ask the Triassic ranger.  
  
It wasn't even like he could ask Kira, knowing how strained the girl already was romantically in her life. Ethan hated to see his friend in so much pain, but he also knew they had to take happiness wherever they could find it.  
  
He only hoped Kira would find it soon, before she paid a higher price than the rest of them.

* * *

Cassidy relaxed on her cot in Kira's room. Devin had gone home hours earlier, after dinner, and Cass had stayed, after securing permission from her mother. She sensed that the Yellow Ranger needed the support, especially with the whole thing with Trent and Conner going on.  
  
She herself was so lucky to know Ethan. Sure, he was the King of all Computer Geeks, but he was kinda fun once you got to know him. And him in his armor.... Cassidy nearly swooned at the thought.  
  
Kira looked across the room, her brow scrunching. "Are you sure you wouldn't like the bed? Seriously, half the time I end up asleep on a heap of old clothes."  
  
Cassidy bit back a smile. The smaller girl really didn't keep company that often.  
  
"I'll be fine, Kira. You must be tired, after today." Devin had been frequently exhausted after becoming the Triassic Ranger... in fact, she'd had to call him once or twice to wake him up for school. She bet that Kira and the others slept like the bed... or at least most of them did. She was willing to bet that Trent had nightmares, given how tired and scared he looked most of the time.  
  
Kira harumphed, pulling her arms behind her head and staring up at the ceiling. "I wish I was. I haven't slept well in months. I get thirty minute periods off and on."  
  
"I'm glad I'm not a Ranger," Cassidy said. "I mean, being a reporter sounds so much more glorious, you know?"  
  
Kira nodded. "There's a lot more recognition with it, certainly. You have more personal weight to throw behind causes, too. Just think, you could have a Cassidy Cornell Invitational tourney for your pet charities. If I want to release an album, I can't exactly put Yellow Ranger on my resume and get a contract."  
  
"Not unless you want Dr. T killing you first," Cassidy observed wryly.  
  
"Yeah, and I kinda don't want to become famous, like the Space Rangers were," Kira said. "I want to be judged on my own merits."  
  
Cassidy nodded. "You want to have your personal life ripped away from you because you're a world famous singer, right?"  
  
Kira laughed, leaning over the edge of the bed so they could make eye contact. "You know, I really don't want to be a superstar. I want to be reasonably famous doing what I love, and go home every night to a family that loves me."  
  
Cassidy sighed. "I kinda want to be the same way. I mean, I like being a reporter. I'd love to be a star. But... not that way."  
  
"Exactly," Kira said. "That's why I'm glad to just be Kira by day and the Yellow Ranger by battle."  
  
Cassidy chewed her lip for a moment. Kira had put so much more thought into celebrity and what it meant than she had. All Cass had ever wanted was to be appreciated for the work she did. Was that enough? Was that a noble enough reason to become a reporter?  
  
"How did it feel," she said suddenly, "to realize Kylee didn't have the same dreams as you? What did you think of her for - um, selling out?"  
  
"I was crushed," Kira told her thoughtfully. "Told myself that I never wanted to be that way, to be so... shallow. Sure, I dream of getting a record deal... but I think I've realized there are things far more important. Even though it sometimes means getting hurt by those I love."  
  
"Would you give it all up?" Cass wondered aloud. "If it meant saving the world, would you put down the guitar forever?"  
  
Kira sighed. "I don't know."  
  
Cassidy slid out of the cot, making her way over to Kira's bed and plopping down beside her. She nervously embraced the smaller girl. "I'm sorry," she stammered. "I just - I'm not like you. I'm not good, or noble, or altruistic. I so want to understand, you know? I want to help you so much."  
  
"Cassidy, I'm not... I thought it was a joke, when Dr. T came across us and told us about what had happened. I never felt less like a superhero in my life. But yet, I'm still here...."  
  
Cass shook her head, pulling the girl tighter. "It's not true. You're all so innately decent. You think about others, and you don't get afraid... I can't be like you, and I feel like a fifth wheel for acting like I can."  
  
"At least Dr. T didn't almost call the cops on you, for walking into his underground lair," Kira told her, smiling slightly.  
  
Cass giggled. "You must have given him quite a shock, dropping in unannounced and with no idea as to your identities. I hope for your sake you didn't mention Dr. Mercer?"  
  
"No, just that it was an accident, and that... well, I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't picked up the gems. I'm just glad Conner got kidnapped after that or things would have gotten bloody...."  
  
Kira tensed, her mind obviously going back to when they'd freed Conner from Mesogog's control - and unwittingly given Dr. T his Black Ranger powers. Cassidy felt like kicking herself for opening such a sore wound, and held the smaller girl tighter.  
  
The last thing Cass would ever want was to hurt Kira. She was so strong and self-possessed and decent. She was everything Cassidy wanted to be, everything she wanted ... wanted ... Cassidy swallowed and held Kira even tighter.  
To be continued.  



	7. part 7

Disclaimer: in part 1.  
  
Another Time and Place  
by Smittysgirl  
part 7  
  
Conner McKnight slid into his breakfast nook with an inarticulate grunt, hair still askew and bed clothes rumpled. It had been another fitless night of sleep, his brain haunted by half-remembered images of the previous day's activities.  
  
At least, he reflected as he hunkered down with a bowl of watery and cinnamon laden oatmeal, he wasn't screaming anymore.  
  
After digesting his second spoonful, he became aware enough of his surroundings to notice his brother Eric just finishing up his own breakfast, a neatly coordinated tray of perfectly balanced entrees. It was something Conner would have made himself, if he was still ... himself. He idly wondered when his twin had begun getting his act together.  
  
He nearly laughed. Eric had his act together. Eric was becoming non-dorky. Well, except for his hair. Eric was... becoming not Eric.  
  
As he had stopped being Conner, thanks to Mesogog.  
  
"Hey bro," Eric said lightly. "You been feeling okay? You look, um... Dishwallaed."  
  
"Disheveled," Conner murmured instinctively. Eric, to his credit, no longer flinched when corrected. Conner forced a smile for his barely younger brother. "I've been having some nasty dreams lately, that's all. But hey, how's life in private school?"  
  
Eric gave him a watery smile. "I'm coping," he said. And that was all he said. Ever since he'd started taking ninja classes, he'd become... secretive. In a very annoying way.  
  
It was always about secrets, Conner supposed. The secrets he'd kept from his family, the secrets Eric was keeping from him. He only wished more of those secrets had positive connotations.  
  
The timer on Eric's watch screeched, and the younger of the McKnight brothers bolted out the front door with nothing more than a vague wave in the house's general vicinity.  
Conner sighed. So much for conversation. Not that Eric had much to offer, anyway. He stared at his food. He had to eat, he knew, or things would get worse. Mesogog's stupid mutation would get worse.  
  
He forced down the sloppy mess, collecting his and Eric's dishes and depositing them in the sink. In the distance he could hear the television switch on in his mother's study, and knew his parents would be making their way downstairs. He'd have to be strong for them. Stronger than he was for Eric. And that strength would have to hold for another grueling day.  
  
As much as he wished for death, there were times Conner wondered if he wasn't already.  
"Day of the living dead," he muttered, but there wasn't much humor to it.  
  
But he could do it. He could make it. He had to. To see that freak Mesogog pay for what he'd done.  
  
Cold rage surged through him, and Conner gripped the sink. No, not here. Let it pass, let it wash over you. Don't let control slip.  
  
Remember what Hayley had taught him. Breath. Let it pass. Let it pass. Let it pass. Don't seem strange. Fit in.  
  
"Hello, son!" his father's voice boomed behind him. Conner bit his lip, turning around and forcing a warm expression on his face.  
  
"Dad, hey. I was just taking care of Eric's breakfast before I got ready for school."  
  
His father smiled. "You've been eating a lot lately yourself."  
  
"Psych said I needed to eat more."  
  
His father nodded, gripping him firmly on the shoulder. Conner tried not to flinch at human contact. "We're all real proud of you, son. Not letting some chemical imbalance get in the way of you living your life. That Dr. Smith Hayley's dating, he's a Godsend. I don't know how he could have identified those symptoms on sight."  
  
"Dr. Smith is a genius, Dad, I swear," Conner said. "He's done a lot for me."  
  
His father patted him on the shoulder again. "So have you. Your mother and I hope you remember that. Mental health is all well and good, but emotional health plays a big part in that. We're all real proud of you."  
  
"You said that already," Conner chuckled.  
  
"And it's good you made some friends outside the soccer team," his mother added, coming downstairs. "I like Kira."  
  
"So do I," Conner replied.  
  
His mother smiled, brushing past his father and setting up the coffee maker. "I wish you'd invite her over some time for dinner. Goodness knows you've done more with your past girlfriends."  
  
"Kira's not just any girl, mom. And she's got a boyfriend." He forced that last part out.  
"Oh," his mother said simply. She sounded disappointed. God knows he felt disappointed.  
"Well, what about the nice James boy?" his father interjected. "You talk about him all the time. Not to mention Greg Fong's boy. Whatsisname, Dilbert."  
  
"Devin," Conner corrected automatically. "I might invite the two of them over."  
A knock on their back door spared Conner the humiliation of needing to recap his personal life in greater detail to his parents. He dove between them, making his way to the living room.  
Checking the peep hole, he was surprised to see Hayley mulling outside, chewing her lip.  
He opened the door. "Hay, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I thought I might stop by," Hayley said. "Take you to school."  
  
Conner tried to process the connotations of that and found himself deeply unnerved by what this might be about. "Um, alright. I should probably get dressed and untangle my hair. Give me about five?"  
  
His mother appeared over his shoulder. "Why, Ms. DeMatteis, it's wonderful to see you. Would you like to come in? I just put on a pot of coffee."  
  
"Thanks, I could use a cup," Hayley said. "Or at least half a cup."  
  
"No problem," Conner's mother said cheerfully.  
  
Conner smelled girl talk encroaching, and quickly skedaddled to the upstairs bathroom.  
He quickly combed his hair, and looked again for any signs of change. Hayley thought there would be some, not just psychological.  
  
He ran his fingers through the back of his hair, mildly troubled to feel something protruding roughly where Mesogog's spikes emerged.  
  
A further examination revealed they were probably oil glands, but this probably did merit investigation by Dr. T after school.  
  
He'd just have to be careful. Breathe. Pretend everything was fine. He looked over his appearance one more time, and walked downstairs.  
  
"I'm ready," he announced. Hayley looked up from the recliner, trying not to spit coffee all over.  
  
"What?" Conner asked.  
  
"I think," his mother snorted, "that while your wearing shorts and a wife-beater might be popular with some of the girls in your school, it's not exactly the sort of image you want to be projecting."  
  
Conner looked down, realizing he hadn't changed his clothes after his examination. He looked back up, sheepishly. "I'm auditioning for Streetcar?"  
  
"Conner," his mom said gently. "Go and change."  
  
"Um, right, mom," Conner said, heading back upstairs.

* * *

"You want to tell me what that was about?" Hayley asked after they'd gotten out of eyesight.  
"What?" Conner asked, distracted by the smell of fresh meat.  
  
Hayley grunted, swapping sides of the sidewalk with the young man and forcing him away from the open kitchen window at the Morrosy's house. "I said, you looked pretty haggard back there. Is something getting worse?"  
  
Conner nodded mutely.  
  
Hayley sighed, producing a bottle from somewhere in her dress. "I was afraid of that. This is a stronger antimutigen Terrance has been working on. It'll stave off the worst of it, but it's a temporary measure. Once he has the cure for Mesogog, he'll have the cure for you."  
  
"Shouldn't I wait -" he began. Hayley shook her head.  
  
"I want to see it with my own two eyes. The antipsychotics can wait for Principal Randall."  
"Oh, fun," Conner muttered.  
  
Hayley shrugged. "I want to know for a fact you're getting your dosage. Something happened yesterday with Randall, and I don't like it."  
  
Conner nodded. "I don't like it much either."  
  
The Red Ranger flinched as he swallowed the large pill without water. Hayley watched with a curious eye for the next half block, finally convinced he had in fact swallowed it.  
"Are you satisfied?" he asked levelly.  
  
Hayley nodded. "I hate to be a mother hen, Conner, but it's the only way I can know you're not about to have another episode."  
  
"Right," Conner gulped.

* * *

"Trent Jacob Hernandez-Mercer, where the hell have you been?" Terrance asked, looking at the bedraggled form of the White Ranger. Wherever it was, the White Ranger was in no condition to go to school. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, and smelled like he'd spent the night in a dumpster.  
  
Trent began convulsing and sank down onto the porch. He tucked himself into the fetal position and stared at the opposite wall as though Terrance wasn't even there.  
  
"Shit," Terrance swore, and moved to pick the big-boned White Ranger up. Whatever had happened, Trent was in no fit state to do anything.  
  
Trent whimpered as the Black Ranger touched him, pulling away.  
  
"N - n -no," Trent stammered. "Please. Not safe."  
  
"Trent, you're safe here," Terrance soothed, though it seemed quite futile.  
"No!" Trent yelped, pulling himself back until he tilted precipitously over the railing above Hayley's garden. "YOU'RE not safe!"  
  
"Trent!!"  
  
Trent loooked wide-eyed and ran.

* * *

The fetid stench of human waste and any number of noxious chemicals filled the alleyway. Mesogog breathed deeply, savoring the nearest approximation to his native swamp environment.  
  
"Thisssssss," he purred, "almost makes up for what we are here to do."  
  
The mutant stood over the mangled form of his once top general. Blood and coolant had run together, coagulating across Zeltrax's armor and nearly gluing him to the sidewalk.  
  
He waved the Tyrannodrones closer. "Taaake him. Carefully."  
  
Just as the beings were gently taking the general's body up, a particularly hideous-looking human stopped at the alleyway. "Hey, what's going on?"  
  
Mesogog smiled. He had hoped not to run into any transients while retrieving his property, but the scent had put him in mind of home - and home put him in mind of the hunt.  
  
"Mister, you ... you better get out of here before I get it in my mind to call the authorities!"  
  
"Indeed," Mesogog hissed, pleased. The human froze in a parody of ninja movie moves.  
  
Mesogog incapaciated him with a simple backhand, which sent the human reeling. The mutant sighed. This posed absolutely no challenge - but he could not let there be any witnesses to this.  
  
A beam of concentrated psychic power lashed out of Mesogog's frontal lobe, engulfing the human. He resisted for only an instant, quickly succumbing to the stream of energy demolishing his subconscious mind's automated life support functions.  
  
Mesogog continued to apply the beam until even the human's death spasms had abated.  
"That felt... exellent," he said, motioning to the Tyrannodrones to return their burden to the Island.  
  
The creatures complied, dragging the remains through the invisiportal they had arrived in. Mesogog surveyed the alley for a moment before following. He rematerialized in his chamber, and motioned to Elsa.  
  
"Dispatch TNTitan to obliterate the immediate area. A clean up crew is too conspicuous, and I want no evidenssse."  
  
"Right away, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said. "Oh, and a human blundered his way into an invisiportal somebody accidentally activated." She glared at a cowering Tyrannodrone.  
  
"I wouldn't call it blundered," came a voice from the shadows. Mesogog turned in surprise. He KNEW that voice from somewhere, though the inflections were different.  
  
"You ALLOWED-"  
  
Elsa shook her head. "He's harmless, my lord. We've already disarmed him, and he permitted himself to be manacled."  
  
"He had better be," Mesogog hissed.  
  
"Anyway, I thought we could make some use of him," Elsa continued smoothly. "After we... ah... take care of the remains."  
  
"I had a better idea," the voice continued. "Let me go, and I'll help you destroy the Power Rangers. Honest injun."  
  
"Shut up!" Elsa screamed.  
  
Mesogog held up a hand. "Let us... hear him out."

* * *

Terrance had given up chasing after the White Ranger and returned to his home, hoping to track the young man via the scanner system. At least until the former collapsed of exhaustion.  
  
Though, he noted with some disgust, the latter seemed right on the verge of breaking down as well. He sighed as he switched off one of the computers slaved to the mainframe, pulling it out from the wall unit and prying open the front. They were burning out components faster than he or Hayley could replace them.  
  
They needed a full integrated sensor network and supercomputer. They needed resources like every other single Ranger team probably possessed.  
  
They didn't have them. Instead, they were one semi-competent paleontologist/archaeologist/doctor, a semi-genius with electronics, and five kids who had never seen battle before their Gems had bonded with them.  
  
He sighed, and started tinkiering with the computer.  
  
He just hoped Trent would curb his more self-destructive tendencies in the meantime.  
Someday, he'd convince Trent that everything that happened wasn't his fault, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Trent needed psychiactric care, and that care wasn't possible without compromising his secret identity.  
  
The computer beeped as he replaced it in the wall.  
  
The secondary monitor switched back on, tracking the implant Terrance had placed in Trent's bracelet the day before. He corroborated the readings with the GPS satellite Ethan had hacked into months back, and queued the Raptor Rider bay to open Black Rider's pen. Morphing, he went in search of his terrified white colleague.

* * *

Devin yawned as the midmorning sun cast through his window. One of the advantages of his internship at the station, not to mention work alongside Cassidy, was that his school hours were far less strenuous than his fellow Rangers'. He rose out of bed and stretched, wincing as he strained a few of the bruises Conner had inflicted on him the day before.  
  
No matter how exciting life as a Ranger was, he stil wished bruises went away instantly. He was glad his parents never saw how injured he was, or, well-meaning as they were, they'd never let him out of the house again.  
  
There was a knocking on his door, and Devin quickly threw a long shirt on. "Just a second!" he cried.  
  
His mother stuck her head in a moment later. "Devin, your sister is almost done in the shower. I thought you'd want to grab whatever hot water is left."  
  
"Thanks, mom," Devin said, thinkin that the hot water would be perfect for the injuries. "I gotta go meet Cass early today."  
  
His mother shook her head faintly. "Don't tell your father that. He barely tolerates your interning with channel 3, heaven knows what he'd do if he knew you were working with her off campus."  
  
It was an old argument. Greg Fong barely understood his son's love of photography, and made it plain he expected Devin to follow in the family business. Gwendolyn Fong just barely understood her youngest child, and tried to help Devin live his own life - if only in the hopes he'd one day come to his senses and settle down.  
  
"Right, mom," Devin said, glad his father didn't know about his little side job as a superhero. He grabbed his Zire, glad that he had it to keep track of where he needed to go. Cass would be so disappointed if he didn't show up.  
  
She moved out of the doorway to allow him exit. As he headed towards the bathroom she abruptly hugged him.  
  
"I know you don't hear it a lot in this house, but I am proud of you, son."  
  
Devin gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Mom."

* * *

Hayley grunted in frustration, bringing her head back against the reception area's wall. She'd been waiting to see Principal Randall for almost a half hour now, and the woman hadn't shown up yet.  
  
Hayley closed her eyes, took a steadying breath, and counted to ten. This wouldn't do her any good. Heck, Randall might even have a perfectly good reason in being a cold hearted accomplice to premeditated medication chickanery.  
  
Yeah, right. The phone rang, and the mousy receptionist answered. It was evident from her tone Randall was on the other line, and Hayley gripped the arms of her chair a bit tighter. 'Keep it together, girl. Terr thought you could do it.'  
  
Maybe, if she was really lucky, the other woman had contracted something. Like a cold. Or lupus.  
  
The receptionist finished her call, and looked up at Hayley with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sorry, Principal Randall got delayed. Do you mind waiting a bit longer?"  
  
Hayley sighed, affixing a smile that she herself had been forced to use against her more belligerent customers. "That's no trouble at all."  
  
"Thank you," the receptionist said, and returned to ignoring her, as if she were an inconvenient and ugly piece of furniture the district had pressed upon them.  
  
Another mind deadening fifteen minutes passed before Randall burst through the office doors. The woman looked disgustingly chipper, and Hayley wasn't sure if this was an opportune time to strike or a horribly miscalculated one.  
  
"Um, Principal Randall?" she offered, rising to her feet. "Hayley DeMat -"  
  
"Yes," Randall said dismissively. "I remember. What do you want?"  
  
"I've come to talk to you about one of your students," Hayley managed.  
  
Randall rolled her eyes. "Somehow I suspected it wasn't to invite me to a potluck, Ms. DeMatteis." Her grin widened as she pinched one of Hayley's cherubic cheeks. "Though perhaps you should be avoiding those anyway."  
  
Hayley resisted rolling her eyes. She bit back a reply that would have not furthered her cause. "Conner McKnight."  
  
"Ah yes." Randall replied evenly. "Such a nice boy. It's a shame what he has to go through. He should be coming by the nurse's office in a couple of hours to take his medication. If you'd be willing to come back, you'd be welcome to see him."  
  
"Maybe I should," Hayley said. "I want to make sure he does, because he caused a little scene later, since it seems he didn't take them."  
  
Randall looked up in genuine surprise. "I find that hard to believe. I was there, as was Nurse Llewellyn. What in the world happened to Mr. McKnight?"  
  
"I believe he tried to tear up the Cyberspace," Hayley said smoothly.  
  
Randall's hand went to her mouth. "Oh my."  
  
She looked at her secretary briefly, and ushered them both into her office before securely shutting the door. "Are you quite - I mean, how bad was it?"  
  
"Thankfully, I know Kung Fu," Hayley said. "Actually, I was able to subdue him before he trashed my entire business."  
  
"I'm terribly sorry," Randall said. Damn her, she seemed almost sincere. "But why do you think he didn't take his medication? We clearly saw him swallow the pills in our presence."  
  
"I know the symptoms," Hayley said. "I saw him."  
  
"Do you believe it might be possible for his condition to simply be worsening? I have a cousin with manic depression, and his mood swings even while medicated can be quite severe."  
  
Hayley tried not to overreact. "Ma'am, I checked his pill case myself. It was fully stocked. He had not taken his medication."  
  
Randall raised both eyebrows. "Perhaps his parents packed a second dose, and you found that container. I know the nurse likes the patients to carry a backup."  
  
"I saw the McKnights myself before coming here. He had a single dosage. They are very careful to portion out his medication."  
  
"What," Randall wondered, "do you think happened then? How do you account for two eyewitnesses, not to mention - I would hope, at least - Mr. McKnight's own word."  
  
Hayley clenched her fist. Damn this woman. Damn that she seemed RIGHT. This didn't make any sense - and suspicious characters didn't just invite people along to witness their sleights of hands.  
  
Hayley nodded. "Something just went wrong, and I'm trying to figure out what happened. Trying to keep my expenses in control. And I worry about the people who come to the Cyberspace. It's good business."  
  
Randall noded. "I understand. You're certainly welcome to watch Mr. McKnight take his meds this afternoon. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. If he persists, I hope you plan to consult with his doctors?"  
  
"I'll bring it to the McKnights' attention," Hayley said. "They're as worried as I am. And if something's going wrong with Conner's meds...." She left the last bit hanging.  
  
Randall took a seat at her desk, neatly threading her fingers. "I believe that would be the responsibility of your keeper - ah, beau, wouldn't it? He is, as I recall, the man who first diagnosed Conner's unfortunate condition."  
  
"He's not Conner's doctor," Hayley pointed out. "Merely a friend of the family who's familiar with the symptoms."  
  
Randall nodded. "I understand. Well, if there's no further business until then, I have something of a backlog for this morning I need to attend to. I'll be seeing you later, Ms. DeMatteis?"  
  
Hayley nodded, turning to leave. Her hand fell on the doorknob, and she was suddenly jolted with energy.  
  
to be continued....  



	8. part 8

Disclaimers in part 0.  
  
Note: The next part is longer.

Another Time, Another Place  
by Smittysgirl

Devin checked the time on his Zire and frowned. He swore they'd synchronized schedules before Cass had gone to bed at Kira's place.

He looked around the quad outside Channel 3's downtown offices and frowned again. They had an assignment for Mr. Cornier they needed to get done by Friday. His internship aside, her job hung in the balance.

Devin couldn't imagine what would have distracted the typically career oriented Cassidy so totally. Save, of course, aiding in Ranger duties. That seemed unlikely, as Dr. T hadn't paged him.

He might not be able to fight alongside the Red, Yellow, or Blue Rangers, but Devin hoped Dr. Smith ranked him higher on the food chain than Cassidy.

At least he hoped so. He wasn't too sure, no matter how nice Dr. Smith was.

"Oh, man," he said, looking about again. He wondered if he should call her on her cell, or if he'd get yelled at for that.

He sighed. Better Cass yelling at him than being unhappy. He pulled out his cell and autodialed her. The line rang for nearly a minute before Devin clicked off in frustration. Either she'd disabled call waiting in the last two days or the phone wasn't on.

He wondered what was going on. Wondered if she'd scheduled something without him knowing. Since they were kids, she'd never hidden what she was going to do.

He shook his head, and wished he had Kira's number or a way to get in touch. If he didn't, they would be dead soon. Figuratively speaking.

Trying the next best thing, he punched in Dr. Smith's direct line to Dino Ops. That took only a couple of seconds. White noise filled the earpiece of his cell phone. Somewhere in the distance he could hear a man answering.

"tty here," it repeated.

"Dr. T, like, is something going on? I can't raise Cass on her cell."

"vin, he-" came the voice again. The sound tapered off, and the older man became audible. "Sorry. I'm actually on the ATV, you're being routed through my bracelet. What's up?"

"I can't raise Cass on her cell, is something wrong?" Devin asked. "Why are you on the ATV? Do I need to be somewhere?"

"Something's the matter with Trent," Dr. T said simply. "I'm pursuing. Nothing is the matter that I'm aware of, though nobody's minding the base at the moment. Is there something you'd like me to do? I could swing by her house. I'm out by her housing development."

"Um... well, Cass was at Kira's," Devin said. "And, um, what's wrong with Trent?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Dr. Smith sighed. "I'll fill you guys in when I know more. Do you want me to page Kira on her morpher?"

"If you could, and if it's okay, Dr. T," Devin said. "I'm kinda worried."

"Don't worry, I'll page Kira and make sure Cass gives you a call. Dr. T out."

Devin breathed a sigh of relief, laying back on the concrete outcropping surrounding the fountain. It might have been silly, but he felt immensely better for knowing he had someone like the Black Ranger to turn to.

Devin knew he wasn't a decisive or strong-willed person. How he'd held his own this many years with both Cassidy and his father was beyond him. But this Ranger stuff, the possibility that someone not checking in meant they were being turned into a mutant, or kidnapped by aliens, or emissary to a race of sentient planets... He'd have gone batty without Dr. T there.

He checked his equipment once again and waited for Cass to call him.

* * *

The shrill chime of Kira's dino bracelet jerked both girls upright. Cass didn't remember falling asleep on the bed herself, but she must have. The younger girl stood no chance of dragging her back to bed.

"Kira here," Kira said automatically, her hair a mess. Bed hair, Cass realized somehow.

"This is Dr. T. Is Cassidy there? Devin's a little worried."

Their eyes met. Cass, awkwardly, broke the glance. Kira's gaze returned to the morpher. "Yeah, she's here. I'll get her."

She tapped off the comm line for a few seconds, hitting the call button again and raising her wrist to Cassidy.

"Dr. T?" Cass asked uncertainly. "What's wrong with Devin?"

"Apparently you both had an appointment this morning. He was afraid you'd gotten in Mesogog's crosshairs again." The fuzz around Cass' brain dissolved like a splash of cold water.

She could hear the older Ranger mutter something. "Girls, I'm going to have to let you go. I have a situation on this end. I'll call if stuff gets hairy. Dr. T out."

Cass lookied at Kira, then frantically dug in her bag for her Zire. She punched past the protection and looked at her schedule. "Damn."

Reaching further into the purse, she produced her cell phone. Dead. No battery. Of course not, she'd meant to charge it after Conner's little episode and got sidetracked for the next sixteen hours.

"Argh," she said. Kira slid behind her, softly leaning against Cass' back and holding her reassuringly.

"Kira, I gotta go," she said, jumping up and trying to get everything together.

"You could, um," she stammered, chewing her lip. "You could call him and cancel. I'd really..."

"This isn't a date, this is an assignment," Cass said. "Oh, I will be so dead. Can I use your phone?"

Kira nodded. Clearly Cassidy's choice of words had cut the smaller girl in a way she hadn't intended, and Cass kicked herself for it.

Grabbing Kira's phone, she quickly punched in Devin's cell and fed him a cockamamie line about investigating pre-native american cultures in Reefside. She promised to be there within thirty minutes, which - given trafic this time of day - was being very unrealistic.

"Sorry, Kira," she apologized, trying to struggle into her clothes. She wouldn't look like the usual beautiful Cassidy Cornell, but she'd rather that than lose her job at Channel 3. Besides, Devin worried enough without her.

Kira embraced her again from behind, and Cassidy tried to ignore how warm and inviting the lithe form felt. Just like the bed she hadn't intended to sleep in.

"I, um... last night... you really showed me what friendship was. Nobody's held me. Nobody's told me they care without asking anything of me. I..." Kira stammered.

Cass wanted to kick herself, and quickly finished getting the rest of her clothes back on. "Kira, I'm not going to leave you. We're friends, right? Last night was wonderful, and nothing has to change. IÊ just have an obligation for Mr. Cornier I need to take care of before Friday. I'll see you later today, I promise."

Kira nodded, her deep hazel eyes conveying a wealth of emotion that Cass couldn't even begin to decipher - and didn't know if she wanted to.

Cassidy looked over herself, grabbed her bag, and hurried out the door, fleeing towards Devin and their appointment.

to be continued.


	9. part 9

Disclaimers: in part 1

Another Time and Place  
by Smittysgirl

Reefside had begun its life as part of a vast farming community in northern California. The town had gradually become more and more industrialized over the decades, eventually earning a title as Blue Bay Harbor's sister city. Though agriculture was no longer their main source of revenue, vast farms and ranches dotted the nearby landscape.

It was here, surrounded by wheat up to his shoulders, that Terrance Smith found himself in desperate search of the White Dino Thunder Ranger.

Of course, Trent's ability didn't help, either, though Terrence sometimes wondered if his teammate's powers had expanded to emulating the abilities of the other Rangers.

It would explain his proficiency in hiding from detection so ably. A low rustling two rows away alerted Terrance to something, and he quietly crept towards the next intersection.

"Trent?" he asked quietly, trying to not alarm the unhinged Ranger.

"Get AWAY!" the younger man cried. "You don't understand, it's not safe for any of you! Just like it wasn't safe for him!"

"Trent," Terrance said evenly, "you came to see me. I know you want help; someone to talk to."

"I was out of my mind!" Trent said, his voice coming out of seemingly nowhere. "I ran. It's not safe for you to be near me. Leave me alone." The wheat rustled again.

Terrance hung near the edge of his row, waiting for a familiar footfall. He and Conner had practiced this in Terrance's own fields as a means of incapacitating the boy should he ever use his civilian powers to harm others. The breeze kissed the tactile sensors wiring the helmet to his central nervous system, and Terrance's arm shot out, nabbbing Trent across the midsection. Trent stumbled out of super speed.

Terrance caught the boy and held him tight. "It's okay, Trent. Let me take you home. You look like you haven't eaten in a week." He paused. "And you could use a bath."

"I smell bad. Shouldn't that be a clue?"

An eruption of light split the sky above them, leaving in its place a figure in familiar black and turquoise armor.

"Zeltrax!" Trent cried, jerking out of Terrance's arms and toppling backwards into the crops.

Terrance sighed. "Let me handle this, Trent."

Terrance spun, finding himself face to face with the warrior's fearsome visage. His hand inched towards the Brachiostaff. "It doesn't have to be this way, Eddie."

The cyborg turned lazily from the boy to the Black Ranger. "There is no Eddie here. Destroying the both of you is but a prelude to my ultimate revenge!"

Terrance raised his eyebrows inside his helmet. "Look, you're Edward Payne. You were killed by Mesogog when you were testing a new device...."

Zeltrax's sword coalesced in his hand. "You are a fool to believe your friend could be saved, Smith. There are so many others in need of your attention that you have callously left to hang."

The cyborg chuckled. "Besides, I believe Trent knows quite well why Edward Payne won't be coming back."

Trent screamed.

"Trent?" Terrance asked, half to make sure the other was still there.

There was no answer. Against his every instinct, Terrance turned to look for the White Ranger. In an instant, a flash of light erupted from Zeltrax's visor, leaving him awash in agony. The Black Ranger armor shattered around him.

"Shit!" he muttered defensively, backing away and activating his own civilian power.

"Impressive." Zeltrax said dryly. A hand waved across his visor, and its color changed from black to red. "Scanning."

Terrance blanched and tried to lift Trent's limp form before he was detected. A bolt of energy sent him flying and the field ablaze. Terrance coughed.

Zeltrax laughed. "This is going better than I could have imagined."

He strode towards Terrance purposefully, his blade rhythmically slapping against his right palm. "Now you will pay, Smith. For those wrongs done to me and my other."

"Never!" Terrance cried, regaining his balance and hauling Trent bodily away.

"Trent!" he called into the boy's ear as the two struggled through the crops. "You have to cloak! Zeltrax has to take a little longer searching for us that way!"

"No," the White Ranger whimpered. "It can't be him. It can't be."

"Trent. Cloak! Imitate me! Worry about telling me later!"

"I..." Trent swallowed hard, and dissolved into nothingness like Terrance as he pulled himself back up. The older man made sure they had a firm grip on one another as they continued to move.

"Good boy," Terrance muttered quietly, hoping they'd get back to his Raptor Rider so that they could make a fast escape... then he could learn what was going on. The sooner, the better.

Another invisiportal opened at the far end of their row, depositing Elsa and a squadron of Triptoids and Tyrannodrones.

"YOU are late," Zeltrax cried from the opposite end. Terrance swore under his breath, pulling the two of them as close to the crops as possible and trying not to move.

"Are you roughing up the merchandise, new meat?" Elsa yelled back. "You know Lord Mesogog's instructions. The doctor and the boy are not to be harmed."

"I am merely making them cower," Zeltrax said. "As well they should."

"Idiot! If you harm the boy, Mesogog will have our heads!"

Zeltrax snorted. "I fail to see you providing any assistance, Elsa. Perhaps your ability to anticipate what Mesogog needs has ended. As well as your usefulness."

"Ha! At least I didn't ask to be turned into a armored freak!"

"Yes." Zeltrax crossed his arms. "It seems you had no choice in the matter at all. That is the difference between a peer and a subordinate."

He snapped his fingers, and the footsoldiers stood at attention. "Minions! Circle the parameter and close in. We'll draw the net in on them." He stared Elsa in the eye, daring her to rebuke his command.

Elsa snorted. "There's hope for you yet. Just remember how displeased Lord Mesogog will be if you injure the boy before we can put him in... safekeeping."

"All that matters to me is my revenge. Once I have that, my life is Mesogog's to do with as he wishes."

Elsa rolled her eyes as the creatures fanned out all around her. "Yes, yes, and you shall have it. Smith's capture will ensure that if nothing else."

"Excellent," Zeltrax said.

"Safekeeping?" Trent whimpered quietly.

Terrance patted the other reassuringly. "Won't happen," he murmured. "I've been in tighter jams."

"It occurs to me," Zeltrax asked suddenly. "What kept you? Mesogog led me to believe you were ordinarily quite punctual."

"I was busy securing our other target," Elsa said testily. "The one I didn't have to be gentle on."

"Ah," Zeltrax replied knowingly. "Smith's woman. A wise decision. The Rangers have no idea how compromised their civilian lives are - and are rapidly becoming."

Terrance froze. How had Elsa gotten her hands on Hayley?

Trent struggled against him. "There's going to be a gap between the Tyrannodrone and the triptoid off to Elsa's left," he whispered.

Terrance swallowed, whispering an affirmative. Trent activated his speed, holding onto Terrance firmly. The two bolted for it, unable to avoid rustling the crops arround them.

* * *

Conner filtered out of PolSci with the rest of the class. His concentration had been spotty for the entire quiz, and he knew he'd be lucky if he made it out alive with a C-average.

Today had been rough, and not only because of the day before. His body felt clunky and cumbersome. His fingers were unresponsive some of the time.

Inwardly, he cursed Mesogog once more. That armored freak was going to pay for turning Conner into a monster.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Conner's temper surged. He spun around, relaxing visibly when he realized the hand's owner was Marianne, one of the girls from Eric's old dojo.

"Marianne, what's up?" he asked, calming his racy heart and ignoring her smell.

Her nose wrinkled and her brow tightened. "Conner, are you doing all right? You've been spacing out all day, and I thought you were going to try and eat Becky Holstram's science project last week."

"I'm just distracted," he said. "And... no, I wasn't."

The edges of her mouth creased. "You were smelling it, anyway."

Conner's fingers twitched. He could feel another episode in the near future, and he needed to be clear of the others when it happened. A bathroom stall, a padded cell, it didn't matter. There was no time -

" - guess I just wanted to know you were hanging in there," she finished (had she even started?). "You're all Eric talks about when we're dating."

The impending transformation sputtered for a second as Conner realized his brother had a girlfriend. One presumably even Mom and Dad weren't aware of.

"Oh," he managed. "Thanks. See you!"

He tore off down the hall as his fingers slowly bonded together, bone and sinew stretching and contorting as a dinosaur hand began to materialize for the first time. He jammed his hand into his pocket and barreled into the janitor's closet.

He breathed in relief as the door slammed and locked behind him. "Shit," he muttered, before collapsing into a shelf full of stuff he didn't care about but the janitor maybe did.

* * *

"Earth to Cass," Devin said. Cassidy looked up in confusion, and Devin gestured to the station editing equipment. "We've got to get this stuff ready for presentation on Friday. I thought a work print might help us figure out what coverage we still need."

Cassidy nodded, still distracted. "Right."

Devin wrinkled his nose. "Cass, are you okay? You and Kira didn't get attacked, did you?"

Cassidy shook her head. "No, it's not that. I just never..."

She just never what? Realized how alone Kira must have been all these months? How torn Kira's heart would be after Trent and Conner violated her trust and her patience time and again? How much Kira smelled like honeysuckle?

Devin sighed. "Cass, did you meet someone?"

"What?" her head snapped up. "Don't be silly. I haven't been anywhere since we stopped at the Fords last night. I don't know, maybe I've been humbled. They had it so rough before we joined the team."

Devin nodded understandingly. "Yeah. I can't believe we were so blind to who they were, Cass."

She slumped forward against the console, her mind reeling. All she wanted was to go back to bed. Everything made so much more sense in those fleeting moments of half consciousness before and after sleep.

"Dev?" she asked suddenly. "Why are we even doing this? Cornier doesn't need us. We're part of the world's preeminant team of heroes, and we're punching in at a place built on exploiting people like that."

"Um, Dr. T said we should try to have normal lives."

"Normal life?" Cass asked suddenly. "What's a normal life? We don't have normal lives anymore!"

Devin swallowed. "Cass, this has been your dream since you were five years old. This was - was our dream. Do you want to throw that away?"

She could hear the unspoken addendum to that question. Could she throw it away.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I guess... now I'm hoping we can make things better here."

"Edward Cornier's a powerful man. If we burn him, we're throwing away our careers. We'd be lucky to work for some supermarket tabloid in Circle Pines. But, but if this is what you want..." his smiled broadened. "I'm in all the way."

"Thanks, Dev," she whipered.

"Oh!" he said suddenly, fishing out his cell phone and checking for a signal inside the cavernous sub-basement. "Dr. T was chasing after Trent, I should see how he's doing."

Cass nodded. Devin brought the phone to his ear after punching in the autodial for Dr. Smitty. The phone rang.

Over a minute passed before the automated messenger in Dino Ops began to play. Frowning, Devin tried again. After yielding the same response four times, he was outright panicked.

"Cass, we've got to get to Ops!" he cried.

"What?" she asked, bolting upright.

Devin grabbed his coat and bolted out the door without another word. Cass tore out after him.

* * *

Time had begun to lose all meaning. The pain was his only companion. The only presence he knew as intimately as he knew himself. Somehow, though, its presence only made him feel more alone. More tainted.

Conner stank of industrial solvents and various chemicals he couldn't have identified even with all of Dr. Smitty's lab at his disposal.

On his mishappen arm, something began to beep. He swatted it like a fly.

Something clicked and a faint voice emerged from under his claw. "Conner!"

Conner. Yes, he supposed, that was his name. Or at least it was a word he felt reasonably sure he knew. He gurgled in reply.

"Conner?" Devin's voice came from somewhere. "You there, man? Oh, don't tell me we're missing three people now!"

"Aaaaaahhhh... herrrrre..." Conner drawled. The air was too cold in here. Too cold, and the humidity was too low. He could barely breathe, and his extremities kept fluctuating between total numbness and burning like fire.

"Shit!" Devin barked. "Conner, where are you?"

He hissed. Words couldn't form. His tongue felt thick and useless. He could just barely muster the comprehension to understand what Devin was saying.

He hissed again, hoping it was an encouraging sound.

"Shit! Where's Dr. T's tracker, Cass?"

Those three syllables clicked like a tumbler in his brain. Conner could feel the fiery agony as his prominent brow began to recede back into a human skull, and five fingers unknit from three. "Doc... Doctor Smitty?"

"Conner? Where are you?"

"Janitor's closet... the pain, the pain...."

"Oh shit. Conner, stay there. I'm going to get Ethan, he'll -"

"NO!" Conner said, feeling his perception of the visual spectrum shift and fighting back a wave of nausea. "What happened to Dr. Smitty?"

"We don't know," Devin said, sounding worried. "I, like, can't reach him and you're in no state to do anything...."

"Yes," Conner grunted, "I am. Call Ethan and have the both of you meet me at his last location. While you're at it, call Hayley. She was supposed to supervise me receiving my medications in an hour. She's more use to you guys there."

"Right," Devin said, sounding a little calmer. "I'll call her."

Behind Devin, he could hear a voice. "Devin, what does this mean, 'tracker not found'?"

The bracelet clicked off and Conner struggled to stand.

To be continued. 


	10. part 10

Disclaimer: in a part one.  
  
Author's note: Thanks again to Nalanzu for reading this through.  
  
Another Time and Place  
by Smittysgirl  
  
The world came back into focus. She was in some sterile looking room, strapped to a table and unable to move. Hayley briefly wondered how she had ended up in this fetishist nightmare before it all came back to her.

"Randall," she wheezed.

"My, my, my, I can almost believe you graduated high school," a voice said to her left.

She tried to move her head, only to feel a strong current pass across her neck. Flinching, she cast her eyes as far to the left as they'd go.

Elsa hovered just into view. "Is this more accomodating for you, Ms. DeMatteis?"

"Let me go!" Hayley was distinctly aware that she sounded like the stereotypical heroine in distress, but couldn't think of anything more coherent to say at the moment. Randall was ELSA? None of this made any sense - but it also made a disturbing amount of sense.

Elsa laughed. "That's it? No grand proclamations that you'd always known about my cover identity? No slow, sheepish realization that you'd had one put over on you by your better?"

She shook her head slowly, a classic bit of Randall's body language. "You wound me."

"I have a feeling it would take more than that. An F-16 to the stomach, for example."

"Pity you'll never know, isn't it?"

Elsa slid to a nearby control panel, lowering a more convoluted version of the lifeforce extractor above her head. "This device is a prototype of Lord Mesogog's current model. It had the ... unfortunate side-effect of leaving those it was used on little more than husks, acutely aware of what is happening to them but unable to control even the most basic motor functions of their bodies as they die. It's dreadful to witness."

Hayley gritted her teeth, determined not to sound any more stupid than she currently felt. Nobody knew she was missing. She glared at Elsa. "You sound like a comic book villian. Or... what was his name? Choobo?"

"Your resolve is charming," Elsa continued. She smacked a button to the side of the console, lowering a monitor next to the lifeforce extractor. "I just thought you might like to have a little entertainment before your soul is reduced to fuel for unlocking

the Dinogems after we obliterate your pathetic little Rangers."

Hayley glared again. "You know what? I take that back. That was one of Ming the Merciless' worst speeches."

Elsa didn't even dignify her with a response, instead activating the monitor. Terrance and Trent were in a room identical to their own, with Terrance already being subjected to a bout with the current model lifeforce extractor. His screams cut through her every defense.

Instead of letting it show, she spat out a response. "Oooh, you have nice complex machines that can create nonexistent images. How amazing. They should hire you on at Pixar."

The gargantuan machine began to lower above her.

"Believe what you want," Elsa replied. "It is of no real concern to me. I simply hoped you might concede your defeat before meeting your ignominious end."

"Ha. Someone will fine me."

Wait. Something didn't add up. The way she was captured, the commotion she'd have had to make, the need to get her to an invisportal without raising suspicions.

"Hey, how did the secretary not even notice what was going on?" Hayley asked.

Elsa smirked. "She was an illusion. Mesogog ate her months ago."

Haley tried not to gape. "Pretty solid illusion there."

"Yes, unlimited access to the resources of Anton Mercer Industries helps."

Hayley took a deep breath. "So you've got me. So what?"

"So you die. And so we use your soul to unlock one of the Dinogems we'll be collecting when your charges are destroyed."

"I doubt that the dinogems will work for you," Hayley said. "They won't choose you." Maybe Trent's might, but she doubted Mesogog would let anybody kill his son.

Elsa snorted temptuously. "You idiot. The gem will choose YOU. But you, unfortunately, are dead. Your soul will unlock the gem so that we can use it, the same as the evil spell on the White Gem was intended to break the will of its recipient."

"And Trent broke it," Hayley pointed out.

"Only momentarily," she said easily. Above them the machine continued to descend.

* * *

"Foolisssh BOY!" Mesogog hissed. "Did you really think you could escape my grasp? You belong to me."

"No!" Trent cried, struggling against the restraints. Energy lanced through them, pushing him back against the table. "Dad, please. You can't do this."

Mesogog's eyes deepened. "Oh yes I can. Mercer was a fool to believe he could release you from the gem's control. Given enough time, I believe I can reestablish the spell's hold on you."

Trent scrunched in on himself, silently trying to force his Gem to burn out. Even if he burned himself out with it. He started to feel warm.

Dr. T screamed, desperately trying to hold back the progression of the lifeforce extractor. Mesogog turned around momentarily, not noticing the white light beginning to emanante from Trent's wrist.

Trent forced himself to stay still, a look of agony on his face as he shifted very slightly. He looked slightly over at Dr. T. 'Maybe I can save Dr. T...." he thought. 'Maybe if I can just imitate Kira's power....'

But it would prevent him from taking his own Gem, and himself, out of the picture.

The light began to diminish, and Trent reached, trying desperately to find Kira out there in the world and make the connection necessary to duplicate her power.

In an instant he felt it, and he let out a terrifying cry.

* * *

The three Raptor Cycles pulled up just across from the tracker's last location. An immense field stretched as far as the eye could see, and in the distance Conner could see plumes of smoke rising into the air.

Ethan disembarked from his bike with a practiced poise, and Devin awkwardly knocked the kickstand on his down. "Oh, this does not look good," the Blue Ranger groaned.

Even through his helmet Conner could smell the burnt crops. His senses were screaming. The smoke, the intoxicating smell of ozone and destruction tinged with renewal. It was like he himself was aflame - with passion.

"Conner?" Devin asked. "Are you okay?"

Conner came back to himself. "Yeah," he said, trying to sound normal. "Where were they, Dev?"

The young man nodded down one of the avenues of crops. "Down here, towards the fire."

Ethan returned to his bike, pulling out a chemical pack from a compartment. "We're lucky the blaze seems pretty contained. This could have been an inferno."

"Yeah, and what were Dr. T and Trent doing in the middle of it?" Conner asked. "Having a barbeque?"

Devin looked at Conner with horror in his eyes. "That's not funny, man. What if they were, I mean..."

Ethan returned, slinging the pack over his shoulder and patting the unmorphed Ranger on the shoulder. "It'll be okay, Dev. I'm sure Dr. T's bracelet was damaged trying to contain the blaze or something."

He gaze Conner a look of contempt as he walked past Devin. Conner felt like hitting himself. That was cruel, even for him.

Devin took a deep breath. "Right. Anybody see Dr. O's ATV?"

Conner closed his eyes and sniffed for the emissions.

Conner made his way through one of the fields, sniffing experimentally. The blaze was masking a lot of the natural scents in the area, but he was almost sure he could make out Dr. Smitty's cologne.

"Conner?" Ethan asked hesitantly.

Conner ignored him, intent on the smell and pulling far ahead of the others. He could pick up... Trent in terror. It was exiting him.

But there was something else. Something intently familiar to him, though he could not identify from where. He put his nose to a stalk, breathing deeply.

"This would almost be funny if it wasn't so pathetic," came a deeply modulated voice from behind him.

Conner swung around, his nose twitching like a rabbit's.

Zeltrax glowered down at him. "You seem perturbed, Red Ranger. Is something the matter?"

"You!" Conner exclaimed, whipping his staff out.

He swung the Tyrannostaff to bear, only to have it knocked out of his hands by Zeltrax's battle axe. The cyborg tore through his every attack with a weary ease Conner found unnerving. His feints didn't even work.

"Pathetic boy. Pathetic, unimaginative boy," the general grunted.

"I'm sorry," Conner said. "I'm having a bad hair day. Wanna make something of it?"

Zeltrax crossed the blade of his sword with the edge of his axe, the two pulsating with energy. "Only your funeral!"

A metal rod thudded the back of Zeltrax's head. "Hey, big meanie!" Devin announced. "Care to take someone your own size?"

The cyborg spun smoothly. "I would, were there someone my own size around."

"Well, that's too bad, maybe you'll have to play with yourself in your room," Devin taunted. He looked back at Ethan. "Where's Kira?"

Ethan shrugged. "She didn't answer my page, but I called Cass en route. She said Kira was still in her bedroom. I guess she has a bug."

Zeltrax dematerialized his weapons, instead manifesting his shield. He pointed to the Blue Ranger. "You are a worthy opponent, nearly as much as the Red Ranger. You, on the other hand," his hand shifted to Devin, "are unworthy of my fullest potential."

Devin just shrugged. "Maybe I'd better go get her," he said, ignoring the general completely.

Ethan nodded. "This place isn't safe, man. Plus, I don't think Kira should be alone."

Devin nodded back. "Right. I'll be on my way. If you find Dr. T and Trent, please page me."

* * *

"Hey Cass," Devin said as he made his way through the cavern entrance to Dino Ops. The girl barely noticed him, her gaze still transfixed on the monitor as Zeltrax tore through Ethan and Conner like they were nothing. Devin fought his warring instincts, desire to fight beside his teammates against a ferocious opponent and the twinge of jealous he felt at Cassidy's reaction to Ethan.

He liked Ethan a whole bunch. He felt nothing negative towards the Blue Ranger, and the last thing he wanted was to jeopardize their friendship because of his feelings towards Cassidy.

He sat down behind her. "Hey, Cass."

Cassidy continued to stare at the monitor, oblivious.

"Cassidy?"

"Huh?"

"Cass. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why aren't you helping them?"

He wanted to ignore the bitter tinge to her voice.

"Ethan sent me to find Kira. She's still not answering her morpher. I thought you could try, while I took over for you in ops."

Cassidy sighed. "Yeah, I guess I could."

"I can't morph without the three of them there," Devin reminded her.

She looked at him harshly before getting out of her chair. "All right, you don't have to be testy about it. Although I don't like being your little errand girl because you've got a problem talking to Kira."

Devin scratched his head. "What?"

"You. Kira."

"Um, what about Kira? She's not answering her morpher or her cell phone...."

"ARGH!" Cassidy stamped her foot and marched up the stairs, muttering about men.

Devin shook his head. "What'd I do?" He shook his head, and watched uncomfortably as Zeltrax whaled on Trent and Ethan.

* * *

Cassidy knocked on Kira's bedroom window. Though she suspected the Fords were all at work or school by this time of day, she really didn't want to deal with the issues raised by Kira's continual bedroom exile.

She was dimly aware climbing trees and hoofing around on rooftops was going to destroy her dress, but it wasn't like she had any makeup on today anyway.

"Kira!" she hissed. "Kira, can you hear me?" At this rate, she was going to be hoarse.

Minutes passed. Finally she heard the latches on the other side unclasp, and the window snapped open. Kira looked out uncertainly.

"What's going on?" Kira whispered.

"My clothes are torn, and your comm isn't working," Cassidy rushed out.

"No," Kira shook her head. "My comm is working. I just don't want to leave."

"What?" Cassidy asked. "But the others... they need you!"

"They'll manage just this once. I can't do it anymore, Cass."

The smaller girl helped Cassidy climb inside the bedroom, and made her way back to the bed. "I'm tired and scared. Everybody just uses me. They bleed me dry to get what they need, and they leave me as a husk."

Kira, you're the heart of this team."

"I think Devin can take over that spot."

Cassidy picked the leaves out of her hair as she sat on the other end of the bed. "Maybe. But he's no good without you there."

Why couldn't Kira just get it through her head they needed her? The longer she stayed here the worse the gnawing in her stomach got.

"Cass, are you okay?" Kira asked.

Cass shook her head. "Ethan's in battle, against Zeltrax, Dr. T, Trent, and Hayley are missing... everything's falling apart!"

Kira slowly scooted across the bed until they were nestled in each other's arms again. "It'll be okay. I just can't go out there anymore. I don't have anything left for me, much less for the rest of them."

"Kira. If you don't get out there... there might not be a world left for anybody."

Kira began sobbing. "Why can't I be happy, Cass? Why can't I have a moment to myself?"

"You have bad luck?"

Kira looked up, her large eyes luminous with tears. "Cass... if I go out there, please tell me you'll be waiting when I come back. I need a friend."

"I won't move from this bedroom," Cassidy promised solemnly.

Kira nodded, resolve returning to her posture. "Okay. I'll do it."

She tapped her bracelet. "Devin, feed me the telem data en route." she tapped it again. "Ethan, I'm on my way."

"Whoo-hoo!"

To be continued. 


	11. part 11

Disclaimer: In part 0.

Author's note: Thanks again to Nalanzu for beta reading.

Another time and place  
by Smittysgirl

The fire was raging out of control. Through the natural proclivity of flames to spread, and small brushfires kicked up from their continuing skirmish, the Rangers and Zeltrax now found themselves closed in on all sides by immense flames. Ethan could feel sweat running down his face, and tried in vain to wipe a brow his glove couldn't reach.

This wasn't getting them anywhere. Whatever had gotten into Zeltrax to shift his attention away from Dr. Smitty, it had made him a better technical fighter than they'd ever seen. It was only by sheer luck Ethan had managed to land any blows at all, and Conner ... Conner, easily the most ferocious fighter Ethan had ever known, even before his current condition, was pretty much useless against the cyborg.

Zeltrax flung the sword heavily towards Conner's intersection, and Ethan winced.

A quick parry with his Thundermax was the only thing which spared Conner from being disembowled. The Red Ranger scooped up the general's blade and lunged forward with both weapons brought to bear.

Zeltrax laughed.

With a poise Ethan had never seen outside of a dancer, Zeltrax fell to his knees, diving beneath the boy's lunge. He spun as Conner completed the arc, gesturing with his hands and kicking up a dust storm which obscured the Red Ranger.

"CONNER!" Ethan yelled.

But as the dust cleared, neither could be seen. On the plus side, the dust had nearly extinguashed the conflaguration.

The whine of a motorcycle nearby alerted him to Kira's arrival. The girl dashed through the inferno sprightly, landing beside him with a soft "oof."

"What's the sitch?" the Yellow Ranger asked.

"Conner's gone!" Ethan explained. "Devin, you got a track on anybody?"

"Well, not really," their sixth Ranger admitted sheepishly over the comm. Ethan could imagine Devin frantically punching keys over at Ops, trying his best to be Hayley. Except for the hair. And the... girl-parts.

"It looks like we work out from here," Kira said. Ethan nodded, grateful to have somebody else here to take some of the burden off him. The sooner they found everyone the better it would be for all of them.

* * *

"ARGH!" Conner screamed as Zeltrax's axe sank into his shoulder.

Zeltrax seemed to nod in satisfaction. "Now I have you where I want you."

Conner scoffed through his pain. "Now that's a cliche if I ever met one."

The cyborg didn't dignify him with a response, instead pulling the blade out from his shoulder with a sickening scraping sound. Conner could feel his extremities going numb, and he knew it was a matter of minutes, if that, before another transformation began. A corona of red was already starting to form around him as his reptile body began to reject the morph energies.

Zeltrax studied him. "Now you see what your... association with Dr. Smith has wrought," the cyborg said. "Nothing but pain... and destruction of the man you once were."

"Why are you DOING THIS?" Conner screamed, trying desperately to hold his mind together. "I thought Dr. T was the one you wanted. What have I done to you?"

"What HAVEN'T you done?" the cyborg shot back. "All you ever wanted was control, dominion over the lives and wills of others. But it wasn't enough, was it? You had to become a Power Ranger, you had to sell your soul to Smith. And for what? The powers? Was it worth becoming this ... thing, Conner?"

"I didn't choose to become what I am!" Conner cried. "It's all Mesogog's fault." So much Mesogog had done... so much evil he had wrought. Conner suddenly knew that he wasn't the only victim here - Dr. Smitty, Trent, the others... all of them nearly destroyed by their powers and the efforts to fight evil... and he and Trent, though he hated to admit sympathy for the other teen, had both been cursed by Mesogog. He knew what he'd gone through - what had it been like for Trent, forcefully brought to Mesogog's lab for the Gem to bond with him?

Mesogog had to die. And Zeltrax and Elsa and the Tyrannodrones. To pay for his sins.

"LIES!" Zeltrax returned. "All you have ever wanted is power. I see you when you sleep, the restlessness. How does it feel, Conner? Does it inflame your every synapse? Are you stuck to your sheets with sweat and arousal?"

Conner arose, the corona around him flaring wildly. He would have only a few seconds, if that. It would have to be enough. Zeltrax would not survive this day.

Zeltrax appraised him with a suddenly steely gaze. He demolecularized his weapon and nodded solemnly. "I have but one request of you before we end this, Red Ranger. I hope you will extend me at least this one honor."

Conner raised both eybrows. "Go ahead." He sweated, trying to hold the transformation long enough to hear Zeltrax out and kill the monster.

"I want you to look me in the eye before you face me."

Conner tried not to do a double-take. This didn't make any sense except as a stalling tactic, except..... Zeltrax didn't seem to have any reason to be stalling....

Zeltrax unfastened the snaps fastening his helmet to the armor's shoulders - had those been there before? - and pulled it loose.

As the helmet came off, Conner gasped. He knew that face like he knew his own - because it was.

"ERIC?"

His twin grinned wolfishly. "And now you know my secret, brother." His axe returned to his armored hand. "Prepare to face your death!"

Conner was so startled, he lost control of his transformation.

He sank to the ground, body racked by the transformation to reptilian form. Zeltrax stood over him imposingly, his helmet still uselessly cast aside.

"This is not unexpected," his brother - no, it couldn't be - drawled.

Conner barely felt it as the boot connected with his head.

* * *

"Dad?" Trent instinctively called after his scream had reverberated along the walls. It was the natural cry of a son for his father, expanded due to the extreme circumstances of their current relationship. He could feel his Gem pulsing briughtly, and concentrated on bringing it under control again.

He didn't know if he was doing the Gem, or his body, irreparable harm by taking it up to these levels. At this point he didn't care. He had to find his dad and get him out of here. He couldn't live with the thought something may have happened to his father, even if stopped Mesogog.

"Trent!" Dr. T cried, tearing the degnergized restraints from around his torso. He examined the teen's wrist carefully. "Trent, what did you do?"

"I... don't know, Dr. T," Trent said. He struggled to get up, feeling like someone had spun him around a few too many times in a chair.

"Your Dinogem," the older man continued. "It's fluctuating. My God, Trent - you tried to overload it, didn't you? You were trying to kill yourself. What were you..."

"Trent!" came a rasping voice from behind the palentologist.

"Dad!" Trent gasped. "Dr. T, we've got to help Dad!"

A greatly disheveled Anton Mercer appeared from the smoking wreckage, bracing himself against the examination table. His body seized, and his left eye retained some of its reptilian properties.

"No! Terrance, you have to get my boy out of here. I'm a liability like this. Mesogog, he's... he's too strong now. You'd never get me back to your base like this, and I can't... Mesogog can't be made aware of its location."

"DAD!"

"Terrance, GO! Get my boy out of here!"

"Where's Hayley?" Dr. Smitty asked, clearly torn between his obligation to his friend and his desire to see Mesogog defeated.

"Elsa has her," Anton said, taking a deep breath. "Go. Save her. Save yourselves. And get Trent out of here."

"Dr. T!" Trent called, struggling against the Black Ranger's grip. "DAD!"

Dr. Smitty swallowed. "Anton, I promise, promise I'll find a way to release you. I'm not giving up hope."

"It's too late," Anton said. "Just... destroy me. And take care of Trent when I'm gone, you hear me?" He slumped.

"DAD!" Trent screamed, his Gem pulsing even more brightly.

Terrance pulled with all his might, dragging Trent out of the chamber and sealing it shut behind him before smashing the control console.

"That should hold Mesogog for the moment," the Black Ranger said uneasily. "Come on, we have to get Hayley."

Trent nodded shakily, his mind seeming to refocus on the task at hand. "I think I can find out where Elsa's hiding Hayley." He went over to a panel, easily playing with it to display the needed information, something left over from his time under the Gem's spell.

Once he'd pinned down the proper junction on the display, the two tore off down an access tunnel.

* * *

Time had lost all meaning for Cassidy. It could have been moments since Kira had departed to help the other Rangers, or it could have been hours. Nothing made sense anymore. The nervousness when she was in the smaller girl's presence, the strength she seemed to draw in spite- or perhaps because of - that nervousness, and the certainty she felt that she wanted to help this person above all others.

Cassidy liked the person she was when she was with Kira, and that was something she only could have said about Ethan and Devin before now.

She shuffled aimlessly around Kira's room. How had she become so... good of a person? How could she have changed so much? Maybe it was becoming support for the Rangers. Maybe she was becoming older and wiser.

Maybe it was Ethan. Cass smiled, thinking of the first time they'd met after months of cyber-courtship. It had been a shock for all concerned, and she couldn't believe the hardships they'd endured making their relationship work through it all.

She also didn't want to imagine what they would have done for a Triassic Ranger without her and Devin in on the secret.

Sometimes she wondered how the four of them had survived at all, with so much against the team of fledgling superheroes.

Why had Kira agreed to become part of this? She sometimes wondered if you had to be insane in order to be bonded to a Dinogem.

But... no, she realized as she sat down, Kira was not insane. Kira was cool and wonderful and....

Cassie sighed as she leaned against the bed. "Oh, Kira, where are you?"

She could smell her friend on the pillow. The soft scent made Cassidy's heart flutter. Nothing had felt like the last night. She'd never felt so safe, so assured of her own innate decency, never more in lo...

Cassidy sat up. "I'm... in love?"

That wasn't possible, was it? She loved Ethan. She knew it with an absolute certainty. He made her feel strong and sure and feminine. He made her feel like something other than a stupid bully who got what she wanted through force of will, and not natural talent. He was everything she wanted.

Cass grabbed the pillow she'd laid on the night before and smooshed it against her face in a half-hearted gesture. This couldn't be happening. She loved Ethan. She KNEW it. There were no doubts in her mind this was what she'd always wanted in a man.

So why then was it Kira she was dreaming about? Why did it feel like Kira was unlocking something else, some sort of feeling she'd never felt before? Was that sisterly love? She didn't have a sister, how could she know?

So why was the beautiful shape of Kira's lips the only thing in her mind right now?

"I'm going nuts," she said out loud. "Do I...."

* * *

Terrors he'd tried to still for almost a year raced to the forefront of Conner's mind as he returned to consciousness. He was here. it was Mesogog's lair, and he was strapped to the examination table with that MACHINE above him...

"You're awake." his brother said pleasantly.

"No thanks to you," Conner tried to say.

His words were slow and slurred - he realized to his mild horror his mouth was fully reptilian - but he managed to convey his meaning.

Eric smiled faintly, pulling the lifeforce extractor down the rest of the way. Its siphon glinted with wicked intent. "I had hoped you'd be awake and... yourself, before it came to this. I wished we could have done this on better terms, brother. I spent my entire life in your shadow, and you savored every minute of it. Even my own advantage over you, my ninja training, was stalled by your becoming a Power Ranger. By what you let Smith do to you. Was it worth it, Conner? was anything worth that cost?"

"Anything's worth the cost to stop Mesofreak," Conner said. "And I thought Sensei Watanabe threw you out of Ninja training."

"I found out months ago, of course." Eric continued, paying no attention to Conner's words. "Your little episodes were hard to miss. I shadowed you to school, and I watched Ethan and that slut Cornell try and contain one of your episodes. Such fine company you're keeping. I followed you the rest of the day. I saw you morph.

The rest I could piece together. I spent weeks charting the teleportation patterns Mesogog's forces used, and I finally found a way to arrive here - a way to offer him my services in your destruction."

"If you've joined Mesogog, you're more unbalanced than anybody suspects," Conner spit out. "I bet he caught you instead of me once. Made you crazy as well. You just don't remember it."

"LIAR!" Eric cried, pressing the tip of the extractor to Conner's chest. Fire shot through his veins, and the Red Ranger winced in agony.

"Yes. This device is attuned to your human biorhythms. It will bleed everything you are out of you, and leave nothing behind but the beast Smith turned you into."

"Eric... bro," Conner wheezed. "I know about Marianne. She loves you. Loves you for you, and only gives a damn about me because I'm related to you. Bro, I was so proud of you..."

"I still have Marianne," Eric said. "And you... you're nothing more than this monster now."

He felt his peripheral vision fading. "No, Eric. I still ha - have my love for you."

He heard something crash behind him. A familiar, sweaty smell tinged the air as he writhed in agony.

"ZELTRAX!" Trent screamed, his eyes wide and bloodshot.

Conner looked at Trent. His arm, his wrist, was shining brightly with a light Conner had never seen before. All of a sudden, Trent's whole form shimmered into a very bright blur.

Explosion after explosion erupted across Zeltrax's armor as he used an emulation of the Red Gem's super speed, and Conner tried to scream in warning. He didn't know if Trent could see the unmasked face on Zeltrax's body, or if he was even capable of registering that Zeltrax had a face.

In the background he could see the main entrance to the lab open, and Dr. T stumbled in with Hayley on his arm.

"Dr. T! It's Eric!" Conner yelled.

The older man looked up in shock, his gaze moving from Conner's prone form to the general being violently attacked by Trent. He yelled in warning, but Trent had already cleared the room and appeared on the far side. The light from his Dinogem was almost blinding. Trent assumed his morphing stance.

"White Ranger! Dino Tunder!"

The light filled the room, and the others averted their gaze before their retinas were burnt to a cinder. When it cleared a bulky figure in white appeared. It bore a vague resemblance to Trent's Ranger armor, minus his power shield and covered with attachments evocative of the Dragozord.

"WHITE QUADROBATTLIZED RANGER!"

A loud scream emanated from somewhere inside the room.

Conner realized distantly that it was Trent screaming. The white accents all along his costume were shining, and the morpher on his wrist was crackling with energy. Whatever he'd done, it wasn't safe.

Trent lowered the double laser-blaster from his shoulders and leveled them at the cyborg. "No more games, Zeltrax!"

"You really think you can stop me, White Ranger?"

"Why, do you think I can't?"

Eric waved a hand across his face, and his helmet rematerelized. "I just hate to see a warrior such as yourself die in such an undignified manner."

"Trust me, I don't feel the same."

Hayley tried to pull herself out of Dr. T's arms. "Trent, PLEASE! This is Conner's brother! You can't..."

"FIRE!"

The room erupted.


	12. chapter 12

Disclaimer: not mine.

Author's note: thanks to Nalanzu for threatening me into writing this.

Another time And Place  
by Smittysgirl

Something which should have taken moments seemed to drag on for Dr. Terrance Smith. The young doctor shook the rubble off his back and rose on unsteady feet. Hayley, the woman he loved, his reason for being, lay nestled where he had lain. He had managed to shield her from the explosion just as Trent had opened fire.

Trent! Terrance barreled across the remains of the laboratory, tearing scaffolding from what passed for the ground.

It might have been too much to hope, but there had to be some chance that the others had survived. It all seemed so incredible in hindsight. Conner's brother Eric was Zeltrax. Terrance had barely come to grips with the revelation that Zeltrax was his old colleague Eddie Payne, and to suddenly deal with Eddie's death atop Eric's arrival was almost too much to bear.

A dark hand broke free of the ceiling tiles, and Terrance began removing the materials pinning the attached body down. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Trent Ferenandez-Mercer alive and well - save perhaps for his Dinogem, still pulsating with an unnatural rhythm.

"Dr. T," Trent wheezed as Terrance pulled him back upright, "what just happened back there?"

He inspected the teen for injury, wincing at the laserations across his own back all the while. "Seems like you unlocked a level beyond your Superdino Mode. Trent, what were you thinking? You went into battle with all the safeties off."

"I'm sorry," the White Ranger said, avoiding the older man's gaze. "Zeltrax, was ... I couldn't stop myself. Not after what happened last night. Not after today."

Terrance slumped back against what remained of the Genome Randomizer. "Trent, I don't think the Zeltrax you faced last night and the Zeltrax you fought now were the same person. Somehow, somehow that was Eric McKnight in the armor."

Trent's jaw dropped.

Terrance nodded. "Though I guess you weren't in a place where you could have recognized any of us in that suit. I'm - I'm sorry about your father. Sorry I didn't do more for him back there."

Trent shook his head. "No, Dr. Smitty. Dad was right, taking him back to base made him a liability to us. We have to keep Mesogog the way he is, someplace where we know he's safe, until we can free my Dad from his control."

Hayley staggered to her feet with a grunt. Terrance climbed back over to her. She brushed past him in confusion, taking a seat on what looked like a stable collection of debris. "I think you broke my shoe," she said finally.

Terrance's grin widened when her eyes met his. He didn't know what he would do if he didn't have Hayley beside him. He'd have gladly traded his life for hers back there, though given all the choices he found this most preferable.

"Where's Conner?" Hayley asked when she regained her bearings. Terrance and Trent exchanged an uneasy look. The McKnights had been at the epicentre of the blast. Their odds of survival couldn't be good.

"What?" she asked again, more anxiously.

Terrance's response was interrupted by a heavy moan from the examination table's former location.

* * *

He was alive. Somehow he knew it. Maybe the fact that he knew anything was enough, or maybe some subconscious instinct had begun to process before his conscious mind took take stock, but Conner McKnight was alive. He was buried under a ton of crap and was blind as a bat, but alive never the less.

"Eric?" he gasped through the darkness. His lungs felt heavy from the smoke and his body seemed like it weighed a ton underneath all the rubble. He felt blindly for anything of his brother's, but all for naught. Conner choked back a sigh of frustration and kept at it, reaching and whispering for his twin.

This wasn't Trent's fault, he realized suddenly. The cold, reptilian logic he might have used before to compartmentalize his feelings had yet to descend. He had seen the desperation in the other Ranger's eyes, a look he had often seen in the mirror. A look he'd seen only moments before in Eric. They were being haunted by Mesogog, all three of them, and the cycle had to be broken today.

His burden began to lighten, and he realized gradually that the others must have survived, must have begun looking for them!

Conner lent as much strength as he could, and finally broke free of the debris. He looked around uncertainly as he saw Dr. Smitty, Hayley, and Trent kneeling beside the upended exam table. He moved behind uncertainly, gasping in disgust at the mangled figure sprawled out in front of them. it was nude, its hair and the Zeltrax armor burnt away in the explosion.

"Eric?" he choked, tears filling his eyes.

The others turned around slowly, recognition and fear crossing their eyes. "Guys?"

Dr. T and Trent remolecularized their morphers from bracelet form. Conner raised his hand uncertainly.

His black ... armored ... hand ...

Conner screamed.

* * *

"This is getting us nowhere!" Ethan yelled as he swept the area with the Fossil Finder. "There's no trace of them anywhere. We have to go rescue them ourselves."

"Yeah," Kira said softly as she sprayed chemicals across the field, forcing Ethan to strain just to pick her voice out. The Blue Ranger sighed. He hated being relegated to the sidelines like this, and he could guess that Devin was feeling this even more than him. Ethan, at least, was actively working on extinquishing the fire. Devin was pulling monitor duty with no relief in sight.

Today was going so well, too. He was pulling some work off campus for computer club, then he hoped to fit in later this afternoon - or rather, about an hour ago - some Detonation Man decompression time, and then he planned to surprise Cassidy with a nice dinner at the trendiest restaurant in the harbor district.

Now all he could do was worry whether their leader, their mentor, their other mentor, and Kira's off-again boyfriend were alive. In whatever free time he had left he had taken to mulling over what, besides the usual, had made their Yellow Ranger so introverted.

His morpher chimed. "What's up, Dev?"

"Hate to interrupted you guys," the Triassic Ranger said, "but there's been a massive explosion over at Casa Mesogog. I'm pulling up the data now, but it's enough that invisiportals have sprung up all over." Ethan chewed his lip.

"I want you back out there. Call Cassidy back to Ops, and take Conner's Raptor. If there's something the matter with the others, we're going to want the Triassic Ranger in our pocket."

"The Cambrian Ranger, for all the good I am with just two of you." Dev sighed.

Ethan shook his head. Devin's low self-esteem because of how his powers worked wasn't going to help any of them right now, especially not Kira. They'd need to work on that once everything boiled over. "Just get your rear in gear."

Kira walked over to him nervously. "Cassidy? Where did you send her?"

"Just back to base, don't worry. Somebody has to man the controls with Devin out on the field."

Kira clutched at her chest protectively. "But who's going to ... she ... she said this would all be over soon. Ethan, I can't keep doing this for people!"

His heart went out for the small girl. He knew how hard they'd leaned on Kira these last few months, and he was amazed it hadn't taken its toll on her emotional state before now. He patted her reassuringly on the shoulder. "It WILL all be over soon, don't worry. We'll get Dr. Smitty and everybody back, and then you'll be fine. I promise."

"Do you mean it?" she asked, her visor hiding the tears he knew were welling up in her eyes.

"Pinky swear."


	13. part 13

Disclaimer in a part one.  
  
Author's note: Nalanzu made all this a lot better than she found it. Thanks. : )  
  
Another Time and Place  
by Smittysgirl

Conner sank to the ground, his body racked with sobs. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. His brother was gone and he was ... was ...

"Eric," Dr. Smitty said nervously, "let us help."

Hayley brushed past the Rangers, kneeling beside him. "Look at his eyes. He's nearly catatonic. We have to get him back to base."

Her words were like a splash of cold water on his face.

"NO!" Conner said suddenly, pulling away from the woman. "You can't take me with you. I'm a liability like this. I don't know what Mesogog did."

She moved in close again, softly caressing his bare cheek. "Eric, please. We want to help you."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"He might still be identifying himself as Zeltrax," Trent noted uneasily. "Hayley, you might not want to be so close."

Dr. T nodded. "He had Zeltrax's style of speech when we were in the field, the same as Eddie's. We can't know what Mesogog did to his mind."

"Still," Hayley insisted.

"Let me go," Conner pleaded. "Let me go and find Mesogog and end this. Please."

"Eric...."

"NO!" Conner rose unsteadily and tried to rematerialize his helmet. He nearly stumbled over from the coordination this required.

"Trent, can you get Eric someplace safe?" Smitty asked.

They thought he was crazy. He thought he was crazy. "Trent, do you remember the day we met?"

The helmeted head cocked to one side. "I remember. You came by the Cafe to pick Conner up."

"No," he insisted. "The day WE met. Your father let you pass for arriving to class late. I didn't like you even then."

"Eric," Trent said uncertainly, "you've never been to Reefside High."

"Do you remember when we fought in the hallway, and you nearly went White Ranger on me? I was having a dino episode. We could have killed each other. Derrick nearly killed you."

"Derrick didn't...." Trent shut his mouth. "Dr. Smitty, Eric thinks he's Conner."

Dr. Smitty ran a hand down his face. "It figures."

"I AM Conner!" he insisted. "I remember everything about all of you. I know about the embarassing mole Hayley is thinking of getting removed. I know how many times Ethan and Kira would whisper about me when they thought I was out of earshot. I even remember what Cassidy said about me last night."

Hayley's hand went to her mouth. The others looked at him uneasily.

"I remember all the passcodes to Dino Ops, even the ones you conveniently changed a few days after my learning them. I remember what it felt like to be turning into a mutant freak like Mesogoon."

"That," Dr. Smitty gave a start, "isn't possible. There's no way you could just change like that. We SAW Conner die, Eric."

Conner gestured to the mangled remains of the exam table. "The lifeforce extractor was siphoning my human elements out. It blew up in the middle of it. My soul, it must have gotten tangled up with Eric's or we switched or something."

Realization hit him, and he tried to make his way to the body before falling over. "The Dinogem! It'll respond to me, my soul!"

Dr. Smitty nodded his affirm to the White Ranger, and he made his way over to the body. A moment passed, and Conner tried to raise his head back up.

"Dr. T, we've got a problem."

"What?" the Black Ranger asked.

Trent held out his hand, the shattered remains of the gem and bracelet filling the glove.

* * *

"Mission Control, we have a problem."

Cassidy awkwardly hit the call button on the console. "Go for Cassidy."

"Something happened."

"What is it, Ethan?" She tried cueing up the telemetry on the Rangers, finally giving up.

"Anything happening at Casa Mesogog?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know," she said. She felt flustered and awful. She had only the faintest idea how to work most of these systems Hayley had developed. A computer at the cafe she could handle - those were straightforward. This had some garage-made OS and equipment not meant to work together forced into some kind of mutual truce. "I can't get anything out of this computer. It makes no SENSE."

"Cass," Ethan said exasperatedly. "Great. We've got a problem."

"What happened?" she asked anxiously, trying to get a visual off one of the satellite feeds.

"It's Devin. He collapsed."

She bolted upright. "Ohmigod," she gasped. "What are his vitals? I took some nursing classes last year, there's stuff you have to do!"

"Cass, I'm a computer geek, not a doctor."

"Where are you?" she asked. "I'll get over there right now!"

"In a field," Ethan said.

She grunted. "That's not helpful, Ethan!"

"Look, I'll send Dr. T's raptor back for you....

Cassidy sighed, returning to the chair in frustration. "Do either of you have even the slightest idea how to treat someone? He could have an aneurism

or all sorts of things. Can Kira?"

"Um...."

"His pulse is steady," Kira said.

Cassidy crossed herself absent mindedly. "Good. It might be anemia, but there's nothing you can do about that. Try waking him gently."

"Right," Ethan said. "Um... Kira?"

"Devin? Come on, wake up Devin."

She could hear Devin groan. "Did anybody get the number of that forcefield?"

Cassidy smiled nervously. "Devin, are you feeling all right?

"I feel like... oooh, what happened to me? I feel like one of the raptor riders danced all over me...."

"Devin!" Kira gasped. "Your wrist!"

"My whaaa?" Devin asked groggily.

"Your Triassic Morpher!" Ethan exclaimed. "The faceplate changed!"

"That's silly," Devin said drowsily. "I didn't call my Zord."

"Okay, something's wrong," Kira said.

Cassidy smacked the CPU in frustration. "Will you guys knock it off with the radio drama already and tell me what happened?"

"Er, um...."

Cassidy screamed. An indicator light notified her that the black rider had returned to his pen and was awaiting redeployment.

"What in the hell is going on?"

"Cass, we have to get back to you," Ethan said quickly. "Stay there. We can't leave the base unguarded. Dev's, um ... Awake."

"Awake...?!"

"We'll be back, Cass!"

Cassidy growled in frustration.

* * *

A deep hiss filled the destroyed laboratory. "RANGERSSS!"

"I think that's our cute to leave," Dr. Smitty said.

The four of them struggled to the more damaged of the exits - the one Mesogog wasn't coming from - only to find their path blocked by a disheveled

Elsa. "Not so fast!"

Conner - Eric - whichever - raised his sword. "I'm tired, and I want to go home," he said, sounding like an overgrown two-year-old.

"Zeltrax?" She asked uneasily. "Why are you helping them?"

"Because... because... oh, get out of my way, Elsa, before you're unable to walk," the form said.

In spite of herself, Elsa let him brush past. She obviously knew what that body could do. He staggered back past her a moment later, lifting the prone form of his brother over his shoulder before returning to the hall. Hayley nervously eyed the general as the rest of them headed out, Trent facing backwards to make sure they weren't ambushed.

"Something's happened to Zeltrax," she murmured, wondering in her mind whether her Lord's idea to turn the Rwd Ranger's brother against him had really been a good idea, but not suicidal enough to voice it out loud.

"ELSA!" Mesogog cried as he stormed into the chamber. "The Rangers have fled!"

"Invisiportals, my Lordm" she said easily. As if on cue, a portal momentarily sputtered on the far side of the lab.

Mesogog hissed.

* * *

"Everybody okay back there?" Terrance yelled over his shoulder as he cross-wired the door to the axiliary invisiportal control room.

"Fine, Dr. T," Zeltrax rumbled.

With a hiss the hatch opened and the rest of them piled inside. Hayley made her way to the controls and began hitting everything that crossed her line of sight. "One of these has to be a way out of here."

"This room is bigger than my quarters," Trent muttered claustrophobically.

"It must be nice having an island to yourself," Zeltrax said.

"Hayley, any luck...."

A portal snapped to life in front of them. Hayley shrugged. "That's not my doing!"

"Do we dare...."

"Dr. T, let's get out of here," Zeltrax said. "Before they notice that I'm not their loyal minion."

"He's right," Trent nodded. "Anyplace is better than here."

Dr. Smitty looked doubtful, but jumped through the portal feet first..

* * *

Terrance's fall was cushioned by a boddy beneath him.

"Get offa me, you oaf!"

Pulling upright, he saw the familiar sight of the Blue Ranger underneath him.

"Ethan? Where are we?"

"Not in Kansas anymore," Zeltrax rumbled.

Ethan and Kira jumped backwards. Kira wiped at her mouthpiece in shock. Devin stood between them, unmorphed but largely inattentive to what was going on.

"Everybody stay cool," Trent said. "It's Conner. Or it's Eric who thinks he's Conner. Either way, he's not our enemy."

"Eric who thinks he's Conner?" Kira repeated.

"No, I'm Conner," Zeltrax said.

"So, ah, what's new with you guys?" Hayley asked uncertainly.

Devin raised his left arm, his Triassic Morpher remolecularizing. A second later the face plate changed ot the familiar Tyrannosaurus.

"Guys, I'm the new Red...."

Then Devin fainted.


	14. part 14

Disclaimer in first part.

Another time And Place  
by Smittysgirl

His hands were cold. Cold like when he'd spent all night typing at a keyboard instead of cradling some cheerleader or practicing basketball as a backup scholarship plan. He traced the intricate contours of his fingertips, feeling tactile sensations he knew weren't there underneath the cold numbness.

Conner choked back a sob. He was sprawled out on an exam table in Dr. Smitty's living room as best he could, trying desperately to sleep. His - Eric's body ached with fatigue.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Why couldn't it be like last night, when all he had to worry about was turning into a horrible mutant?

Feet clomped down the stairs, and he looked up in surprise to see Trent there. The White Ranger was in a pair of longjohns that looked straight out of a frontier catalogue. "The natives sounded restless down here. How are you feeling?"

Conner couldn't help but notice Trent refused to look directly at his body, barely concealed by a blanket. Small wonder.

"Terrible. Guess that's to be expected."

"Conner, I know we've had our differences in the past," Trent started.

That was one advantage from earlier tonight. They were finally calling him Conner and at least faking like they believed it.

"That doesn't mean I don't care," he continued. "We'll find a way to get you back to normal. And I ... I'm sorry about your brother, truly."

Conner traced his fingers again, marveling at the engineering this required. Hayley and Ethan could spend until the twenty-fifth of never and not create something this advanced. "I don't feel anything, you know. I guess that's shock. All I can think about is getting my life back and killing Mesogog. I'm sorry if that cuts you to hear."

Trent shook his head. "No. If I could separate them, I'd kill him too."

"God, what are we going to tell Mom and Dad? They have to be worried sick about us."

"Hayley said she'd convinced your parents that there were complications with your treatment today, and she'd roped Eric into supervising a new set of treatments tonight. Friendly face and all. We'll have to give them something tomorrow, but it was the best she had on the spur of the moment."

"And this? The body we've got in the meat locker?"

"Most of his identifying characteristics are gone. It wouldn't be much to remove Eric's fingerprints, pass him off as you. Once we get you out of this, shave your head, burn your prints off... we can pass you off. You'd have your life back."

Conner blanched. "Off the top of your head you did that?"

Trent shrugged. "I read a lot of mysteries. Don't get on my bad - well, my worse side."

"Eric and I weren't close, really, but he meant the world to me. Somebody had to look out for him, and I liked doing it. I never knew how bad that burned him. He had a girlfriend that he kept from us. He had this whole other life we never knew about. He had so much anger, such hatred."

"That's Mesogog's doing, Conner. Same as what he did to us. And he'll pay."

The other teen moved down the stairs for the first time, coming closer. Conner sat up and scooted to the far end. Trent dragged a chair closer and took a seat.

"What are you going to do until they get you back to normal?"

"If, you mean." Conner grunted. "Stay here, I guess. Try and figure out how we can repair the Dinogem and bond it to this body. I'm terrified when the mourning will hit. I don't know I can keep the names straight with my parents. God, Trent, this life! I wish I'd never met any of you."

Trent nodded. "I know what you mean. I'd give anything for it to just me be and my dad again."

The armored teen sighed. "I've never felt more alone in my life, and I'm surrounded by people. I can't confide anything with those I love most, and everything's so intangible. I feel violated, worse than when I was turning into that ... thing."

"What, what about you?" Conner asked, feeling selfish all the sudden. "Thought you kept rebuffing Dr. Smitty's offer for a warm bed."

Trent huffed a bit. "Didn't have a choice. Mesogog made sure of that. My Dad, he found where I was living, you know? He asked me to kill him when he was a human, but I couldn't. I ran. Mesogog sent Zeltrax, the last Zeltrax, after me. I was confused and I didn't know what I was doing, and I cut him."

Trent reached out, suddenly emboldened, and ran his fingers along Conner's neck. The latches that locked the helmet in place. "I guess Eric didn't make the same mistake Eddie Payne did."

They were quiet for a long time, each contemplating his own hurt.

"So, our new Red Ranger," Trent said finally.

Conner laughed. "Great addition to the team. He passes out like an anime character. Did anybody figure out why he kept doing that?"

Trent nodded. "The powers were bonding to him without a gem, and it got hairy. His body wasn't acclimated to the kind of power, and his morpher wasn't meant to be used as one - just to call the Triceramax. Hayley thinks it's stabilised now."

"Poor guy. I mean, he's been a great Triassic Ranger, but leader? A mutant freak with emotional problems and heavy medication, sure. He had all the cool gear."

Trent nodded solemnly. "Yes, and that gear has only increased exponentially."

Another silence punctuated them.

"Trent?" Conner asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad I don't hate you now."

"Me too."

* * *

Kira clutched her beloved cow plushie, Mr. Mookins, closer to her. She hadn't had need of the animal's healing presence since having her wisdom teeth removed six years earlier, but right now there was nothing she'd have liked more than worries limited to a diet of only soft foods and a mouth full of dying nerves

Cassidy hadn't been able to sleep over again, given the constraints of school and her sudden decision to quit her internship at Channel 3. Kira still couldn't believe that, and feared in the pit of her stomach that she'd been the cause of that. She hated the idea of hurting Cassidy, especially after the other girl had done so much to remind Kira what was good in the world. Even the ice bitch of Reefside had a warm heart.

She didn't know if that person back at Dino Ops was Conner, or Eric was so racked with self hatred that he'd allowed himself to become Conner, but she was almost beyond caring. Trent's similar reversal, gladly joining the team after so many months of runaround and a night of panicked searching by Dr. Smitty, had left her just as numb. Was it possible to fall out of love with someone? Two someones? All the tension and uncertainty she'd felt for the Red and White Rangers had unknotted in her stomach.

Her head fell to the side, trying to cling to sleep as easily as a plushie. She inhaled, smelling Cassidy on the pillow next to her. Cassidy. The knot in her stomach tugged, and Kira's eyes popped open.

"Oh no," she whispered. "Not that. Please. I've got enough of a problem falling for the wrong men in my life, I don't need to start with the wrong women."

Was she condemned to this, to wandering from one kind heart, one warm expression or familiar face, to another? Did anyone mean anything to her anymore, or was she simply needy and easily bored?

Kira sobbed, clutching the toy closer still.


	15. part 15

Disclaimer: see part 1

Author's note: Thanks to everybody that wrote in or otherwise encouraged me to continue with this series! Giant thanks to Nalanzu for putting up with me.

Another Time, Another Place  
by Smittysgirl

People usually didn't pay Devin much attention at school. That was how he liked it. He could drift from one clique to another, hanging on the outside unnoticed. He earned as little scorn as he did respect, and it made him an ideal journalist. Whatever had happened to Conner yesterday, it certainly made a difference in Devin's life.

He shuffled into class, taking his accustomed seat near Mr. O'Shaunessey's desk. It had been a much better perch when Mrs. Norton was still teaching, but surprise elopings had a tendency to catch up on you like a cold.

He'd heard the whispers all morning. Was that Devin Fong? He seemed so much more confident. He was dressing better. He'd finally done something with his hair!

Devin didn't know what it was about. He looked, and he thought acted, exactly the same as always. Maybe a corona of power was being released without a dinogem to contain it, making him project the authoritativeness of a Ranger even when demorphed. He'd need to speak to Hayley about it.

All he knew was, he didn't like it a bit.

Marianne Chandler slid across from him, not even giving her usual perfunctory nod. That, Devin realized with a start, was unusual for Marianne. Even more unusual with his powers acting up the way they were.

"Something on your mind?" he asked softly.

The girl looked up, her eyes bloodshot. "Hey, Dev. Sorry if I was spacing out. somebody I care about has gone missing, and nobody seems to have any answers."

"There anything I can do to help?"

She laughed dryly. "Tell me the whereabouts of Eric McKnight, for starters."

Devin's heart leapt for the girl. The only two answers he could provided - dead and laid out in Dr. Smith's freezer, or turned into a deadly cyborg and so crippled by guilt he'd created an autonomous personality patterned on his twin brother - wouldn't have done her much good. "I haven't seen either member of that clan in almost two days."

"Conner cut school mid Wednesday last week. Nobody's seen him since. I'm hoping Principal Randall will have some idea where at least Conner is."

Devin winced. Hayley's revelation that the head of the school was in fact Mesogog's top general - by virtue that theo ther one kept dying - had shocked all of them. As dangerous as Mercer was when they were in detention for any infarction he could dream up to keep them out of battle, knowing the head of the school was out for their blood had only notched up the danger for the Rangers.

"Eric and I haven't really talked in a couple weeks," she continued. "I'm getting concerned. Conner's illness is taking its toll on him. Eric needs his own identity, he's not his brother's keeper."

_If only you knew, Marianne_.

"It's been hard for all of us," Devin admitted. "You see somebody suffering like that, you just want to do something. I'm sorry you got caught up in that."

He gently placed his hand over hers, and she smiled up at him. "But hey, it looks like you're doing better. You're all the girls are talking about in the bathroom."

Devin felt the flush rising to his cheeks. "Nah. It's a setup for some gag, just you wait."

"I don't think so. They were especially amazed how you threw away your internship with Channel 3. You had a ready made career, Dev! Rumors are already circulating about what horrible assignment you and Cassidy were given to make you quit. You even dragged her along with you!"

He shook his head. "She's the one that got me to quit."

Marianne shrugged. "Believe what you want. All I know is, after 3 years Devin Fong has finally _arrived_ at Reefside. Enjoy the next 5 months."

The class bell rang.

* * *

"Is someone sitting here?"

Cassidy took a moment to respond to his query, and Ethan's gut tightened. His girlfriend had been distant for the last few days, and while it was perfectly understandable given how much crap they'd had to endure, being away from her was even worse when she was right there.

She shook her head absently, and Ethan slid next to hear. Rare as it was to see Cassidy eating cafetaria chow instead of sacking it, it was rarer to see someone's tray piled with nothing but beverages. He wondered if she'd even looked at what she was grabbing.

"Cass, what's bothering you?"

She turned to look at him slowly, her expression glassy. "Why do you think something's the matter? Aren't we talking now? Haven't I been coming to base every day for the last week?"

Ethan swallowed. This wasn't going to be pretty. There was steel behind those words. "Cass, I wanted to spend time with you as your boyfriend, not your teammate."

"They're pretty damn intertwined, aren't they Ethan?" her voice shot up, and even Cass seemed to notice. She lowered her tone before they got too much attention. "I'm sorry about being a cold fish, I've just been dealing with a lot. We all have."

He suspected it was going to come down to this. She'd been forced to choose between her duties to the Rangers and her dreams of working in journalism. Ethan had been amazed when Devin had told him about Cassidy's decision. It was an obligation he'd have never taken, and he was an active Ranger. Cass was an adjunct to the team!

"I just wanted to be with you. I thought that's what you wanted too."

She smiled faintly. "I want to be with you too Ethan, but now isn't the time."

"I was ... hoping maybe we could get together one night this week and do something. I'd had some plans that were postponed ..."

Her expression hardened. "Ethan, try and see beyond yourself for a moment! I'm trying to reassure you our relationship will endure these hardships, and you're not taking a hint!" With a harumph, she got up and marched out of the cafetaria.

Ethan sighed, opening one of her abandoned milk cartons and taking a long swig. That was so not like the Cassidy he'd met online, the Cassidy he called his girlfriend. That wasn't even the Cassidy Cornell half the student body wanted to kill. He got the distinct impression that there was way more going on than he was seeing.

* * *

Elsa was concerned. The last few weeks had been a trying time for Mesogog's command. She had no love lost for Zeltrax, of course, but his repeated deaths had put a distinct strain on her own relationship with Lord Mesogog.

"He doesn't have a whipping boy anymore," she sighed.

A knock came on her office door. In a flash she rematerialized her Principal Randall form - another advantage she'd had stripped from her by Smith's accursed woman. Her anonymity. Her vessel from escaping punishment when Mesogog was confined to his human form. Elsa nervously pulled one of her sleeves down, masking the welts on her wrist. Marks shaped like a human hand.

"Come in!" she bellowed.

Her holographic secretary meekly peeked her head in the room. "Ma'am, a Dr. Smith would like to see you."

The Black Ranger? Here? He wouldn't force a confrontation, not on school grounds. Certainly not with them both in their human guises. What could he possibly want? "Send him in," she said.

The mousy simulation disappeared around the corner, and Dr. Terrance Smith entered. He was such a fine specimen of humanity, from his down-home good looks to his floppy, playful hair and his firm, muscular...

Elsa coughed. "Is there something I can do for you, doctor, or are you paying a social visit?"

Smith frowned. "Let's not mince words, Elsa. I have need of your help on something. You know as well as I do what happened to Eric McKnight was a tragedy. There's a lot I'll accept in war, but roping Eric in was crossing boundaries. Right now we're stuck with a body that I can't explain, and two parents I've had to convince their sons were kidnapped by Mesogog."

She snorted. "I don't see how any of this is my concern yet. You're down one Red Ranger, but that's all the better for us."

"Mesogog doesn't want me in jail. He wants me dead. I can accept those terms. I want you to deposit E - Conner's body downtown. Stage a Tyrannodrone attack, I don't care. Just stick around long enough for the press or the cops to show, and make a spectacle of unloading your hostage. Give the terms you want for releasing the other."

Elsa lowered her glasses to glower at him. "You're in no place to make requests of me, Black Ranger."

"Understand something, Elsa. No matter what I might say or do, I can't touch Anton Mercer. He's too well insulated. There is nothing that will stop me from destroying Susan Randall if you don't cooporate. It is only because of my monk like self restraint that you're allowed this semblance of a life. You will do what I ask, becaus you really have no other choice in the matter."

Her hand fumbled across the table, seeking purchase as his voice went hollow. She knew there was conviction behind those words. Dangerous as Mesogog might be to her in body, what he was threatening her with would destroy her soul. Without Randall her life would be nothing more than a monotony of action and punishment - like Zeltrax.

She slid back into her chair, trying to look contemplative. "I'll do as you ask, Black Ranger. But this makes us even."

Smith shrugged. "Believe that if you wish."

He turned and left without another word. Elsa sighed.

* * *

"This is incredible!" Conner cried as he struck another hit on the manequin with his rapier. It was only Hayley's insistence that kept him from using the Zeltrax sword and in all likelihood ruining their meager testing equipment.

"Your coordination is improved," Trent said from the sidelines with a stopwatch. "You're almost pushing the human limits of response time."

Hayley spun her chair around to face them. "I'll say. Pretty soon we'll need to record everything you do for analysis later. Neither of us is quick enough to accurately mark your progress."

Conner beamed. Most of the testing conducted on his current body had been intrusive and embarassing - especially the agonizing night before they realized the cybernetic aspects of the Zeltrax armor used the biological's waste elements as raw fuel. Fight training had been wonderful. It gave Hayley a chance to analyze how integrated the cybernetic augmentations were to Eric's nervous system.

It beat cutting him open and praying they knew what they were doing, anyway.

"Let's take five," Hayley said as she caught sight of Dr. Smitty heading into Dino Ops. She fell in beside him as they headed toward storage and tried to keep her voice low. Conner was glad she hadn't tested his hearing just yet. "How did it go?"

"She seemed receptive. I hate lying to the McKnights like this, but it's the only way we can get him back to a normal life. Speaking of, how's it looking?"

Trent moved alongside Conner, his head quirked. He'd evidently deduced what the other boy was doing but had decided not to rat him out or disrupt his concentration.

Hayley shook her head. "Whatever Mesogog did to Eric, it affects nearly all of his motor skills. I don't want to imagine the kind of surgery removing the implants would require. Maybe the Space Rangers could do it with all their fantastic equipment, but we're a little short on magic and alien technology at the moment."

Dr. Smitty held her against him for a moment. "Just keep at it, we'll think of something. How's his mental state?"

"Either that's Conner, or he told Eric more pertinent details of his life than most documentarians. He's under a lot of stress, and I think what Mesogog did to him is going to leave marks for the rest of his life especially now that he's off his meds, but he's held together pretty well.

Trent nudged Conner gently. Conner shushed him.

"And Trent?" Terrance asked.

Hayley sighed. "He's bottling it up. I think that night really drove home what he would lose if he didn't join the team. I worry what happens - whatever happens - when Mesogog is defeated. His facade is only temperary. He needs clinical help, Terr. Help we can't provide."

"Everybody's got it tough right now. I only hope they can be strong for each other until the end is in sight. All we have is each other."

"What did they say?" Trent whispered. "Are we getting committed or something?" The joke in his voice aside, it was evident what Hayley and Dr. Smitty thought of their mental states was of vital import to the White Ranger.

Conner turned towards him and forced a smile on his face. "Smooth sailing. They're amazed at how well we're doing."

Trent exhaled heavily. "GREAT. I was afraid they'd treat us like we were made of china for the rest of our natural lives. Hey, you wanna go knock off and prowl the estate for a while? It's nearly feeding time for the herbivore zords."

Conner looked back at the two adults plotting away at their fate, and then at his friend. "That'd be great. Wanna bring some ice cream?"

* * *

Ethan's time at home for the last couple weeks had been severely limited by his duties to the team and the continuing deteroration of his relationship with Cassidy. Today hadn't been much better, as Kira spent the entire afternoon in Dino Ops trying to duck Cassidy herself, awkwardly forcing Ethan into the middle of something he barely understood.

He'd hoped getting Cass work at Channel 3 would have done something to mend their virulent relationship. Clearly that wasn't the case.

With a soft smile he slid into his computer chair and punched up his USENET 'bot. The Ranger sightings for the last week were few and far between, but there was an ominous consistency to the appearances. While most sightings were a healthy mixture of teams, weapons and tactics, this was almost uniformly the Ninja Storm Rangers. The sightings even formed a loose pattern.

His eyes quickly began to sag from the strain, and he diligently fought back fatige for at least a few minutes more. Who knew when he'd get an opportunity like this again. Punching up his email, he saw a chain of letters from Samurai Cam, getting increasingly more urgent with each passing day. Today's was entirely in capital letters and featured fifteen exclamation points.

A furious pounding on the front door jarred Ethan out of his confusion, and he barreled down the steps three at a time. No doubt the team had run into some kind of trouble again - there was no way his parents would have visitors at this hour of night. Hastily undoing the chain and deadbolt before his parents did awaken, he pulled the door open.

A tall Asian man looked down at him with a mixture of concern and frustration. Behind him a medium-tall blonde waved. "Ethan James?"

Ethan swallowed, suddenly wondering if men in black were known for wearing polo shirts and jeans on their off hours. Or bringing along swiss miss models. "Yeah?"

"I'm Samurai Cam. Something's come up. We need your help."

The end.

To be continued in The Tempest


End file.
